Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Golden State Warriors 99-87 - Statistical Breakdown: NBA
On Wednesday night, at the ORACLE Arena, Oakland, CA, the visiting Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Golden State Warriors 99-87.
Lakers have now won their fifth game out of seven in which their All-Star guard Kobe Bryant has not featured. Bryant did pass all the physical tests on Tuesday but was not played at all as per head coach, Mike Brown`s decision,
who felt that Kobe is not ready for game-time action yet.
This win for the Lakers helped them stay half a game ahead of their neighbours, Los Angeles Clippers, who defeated the Denver Nuggets earlier tonight. Lakers hold an edge over the Clippers in their pursuit to win the Pacific Division
title.
Another notable presence missing from the game was the Warriors guard, Nate Robinson, who was sidelined with a hamstring injury. David Lee, Stephen Curry and Andrew Bogut also did not feature for the Warriors in the game. Golden
State started the game with four rookies; this is the first time it has happened since the Nuggets did it back in 2003.
Andrew Bynum finished with a game high 31 points. He also grabbed 9 rebounds on the night. With Bynum playing well deep, Pau Gasol destroyed the Warriors from the high post. He finished the game with triple-double figures, notching
up 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
Metta World Peace who came into the night having scored in double figures in his 5 previous outings. He had another good game with 18 points. World-Peace also dished out a season high of nine assists in the game.
Klay Thompson was the leading scorer for the Warriors on the night, who finished the game with 17 points. Jeremy Tyler also played well for his 15 points in the game while Dorell Wright contributed 12 points. Brandon Rush came
off the bench to score 10 points.
On the night, Lakers took the most advantage of their size as they out-rebounded the Warriors 55-40. The dominance of the Lakers size was so much that they outscored the Warriors 62-42 from inside the key.
The Lakers were able to get to the free throw line more often. They had 28-10 advantage in that department as well. But getting to the free throw line more in the contest does not win you game, making the most of these opportunities
does. The Lakers did not slack in that regard as well as they shot the ball 75% from the charity line.
Another contributing factor in the Lakers win was their over-all distribution of the ball as they dished out 34 assists on the night which accounted for 68 of the points for the team from Hollywood.
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