LeBron James, Lakers beat Warriors to halt 3-game skid

SAN FRANCISCO — The emotional toll of one of the longest weeks in recent franchise history led Lakers coach JJ Redick to take a step back while assessing the goal at hand.

“You feel a certain way when you’re playing great basketball and you feel that you can beat anyone,” Redick said pregame Thursday, alluding to their 15-2 record in March. “And then there’s the emotion of getting your butt kicked and losing Luka (Doncic) and Austin (Reaves).”

Redick spent Wednesday and the time before the Lakers’ 119-103 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night, talking to his coaching staff and players. He said he likely “overlooked” the emotions attached to losing Doncic and Reaves to injuries for at least the rest of the regular season and the reality of losing three consecutive games in relatively non-competitive fashion.

Thursday was a return to winning, as the Lakers held on to the fourth seed in the Western Conference for at least another day by relying on LeBron James and a host of players who had struggled since the team’s season was flipped on its head. James led all players with 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting to go with 11 assists and eight rebounds as the only star on the court.

James set an expectation for the Lakers in Thursday’s team meeting and pregame walkthrough, Redick said.

“His walkthrough, just his command, with his group, of making sure every rep we got was correct,” Redick said. “It just set the tone for the game.”

James exited briefly after appearing to jam his hand while blocking a shot by Pat Spencer midway through the third quarter, adding after the game that his hand will “be fine.”

The four-time league MVP cut through the short-handed Warriors throughout the fourth quarter, as the Lakers made their first 10 shots of the period (four 3-pointers) during a 24-6 run that extended their lead to 27 points. The 41-year-old James burst ahead for a pair of layups and hammered home a one-handed dunk before the Chase Center crowd dispersed after he took a seat for the night with 6:05 left.

“We just had a sour taste in our mouths, obviously, for last week – obviously with the news that we got with AR and Luka and then us dropping three in a row,” James said. “And just none of us wants to continue to lose … just a mindset of just trying to figure out how we can be great as a team, how we can figure out how to play well on the road and try to get a win.”

Center Deandre Ayton had 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting to go with five rebounds, while Jake LaRavia added 16 points – and made four 3-pointers for the first time since a Jan. 7 game against the San Antonio Spurs. Swingman Luke Kennard tallied 14 points and eight assists (his third consecutive game with at least eight) as he continues to herald point guard duties with Doncic, Reaves and Marcus Smart unavailable.

“That’s what Luka, that’s what AR, that’s what they do, that’s how they control the game, control the pace,” Kennard said when asked about adjusting to his new role. “… I feel like I have a really high IQ and, again, just kind of playing with the flow of the game.”

Kennard added that James’ pregame attention to detail, speaking up during the team meeting and setting a standard for his teammates to follow, allowed them to get the team going “from the jump.”

“LeBron was really vocal, being that leader, locking in the game plan, watching film,” Kennard said. “He was talking to everybody, and you can tell he was ready to go. You have a guy like that, obviously he’s our guy and we need him to do that for us, but when he’s doing that, guys see it, and you follow what he’s doing.”

The Lakers (51-29) have had a rough go of it with injuries, especially lately, but the Warriors (37-43) rival any team in the NBA for depth woes this season.

Two-time league MVP Steph Curry just returned from a two-month injury stint and did not play Thursday as Golden State manages his recovery before attempting to reach a first-round playoff series through next week’s four-team Play-In Tournament. The Warriors’ pregame injury report was a laundry list of impact players: Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford and Moses Moody, along with All-Star Jimmy Butler, who has been out since January after tearing his ACL. They used their 41st different starting lineup of the season on Thursday.

Warriors guard LJ Cryer even had to exit in the fourth quarter after landing on Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt during a layup attempt, hopping toward a table in the home tunnel as he struggled to put weight on his right foot and was later diagnosed with a sprained ankle.

Vanderbilt, who verbally tussled with Redick on Tuesday after playing just five minutes and receiving an early hook in the second quarter, played a team-high 25 minutes off the bench, contributing six rebounds and five assists. Redick said before the game that he had discussed the incident with Vanderbilt since Tuesday’s loss, adding that he “felt good” about their interactions.

During the second half of Thursday’s victory, Redick gave guard Nick Smith Jr. 11 minutes off the bench and he scored nine points on 3-for-4 shooting from 3-point range. Smith was one of 13 Lakers to get in the game, as Redick continues to assess who can help fill out playoff rotations. Rookie forward Adou Thiero played six minutes, while backup big man Drew Timme logged eight minutes.

Guard Brandin Podziemski and forward Nate Williams each had 17 points to pace Golden State, which shot 50.6% from the field. The Lakers shot 16 for 29 from 3-point range, while the Warriors made just 9 for 30 from behind the arc.

The Lakers (51-29) and Houston Rockets (51-29) remain tied with two games left in the regular season, with the third-place Denver Nuggets (52-28) one game ahead. The Lakers own the head-to-head tiebreakers vs. both teams. Seeding, as Redick said earlier this week, doesn’t matter to the Lakers in their present-day situation. The game next up is what counts, James said.

“Just play the game that’s in front of you,” James said. “We prepare, we’re all professionals, we prepare. We’re in the postseason, so we have a chance. That’s all you can ask for. We start the postseason like all the other 15 teams, let’s see what happens.”

Seeds 3-5 are about all that remain unsettled in the West. The Lakers finish their slate with home games against seventh-place Phoenix (44-36) on Friday and lowly Utah (21-59) on Sunday. Denver hosts first-place Oklahoma City (64-16) on Friday and plays at second-place San Antonio (61-19) on Sunday, though both of those teams might opt to rest many of their regulars. The Rockets have home games against sixth-place Minnesota (47-33) on Friday and Memphis (25-55) on Sunday.