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NBA playoffs: Lakers become first West team to eliminate Warriors in Steve Kerr era
The Golden State Warriors will not repeat. Once again, LeBron James was involved.
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The Golden State Warriors will not repeat. Once again, LeBron James was involved.
Led by 30 points from James, the Los Angeles Lakers eliminated the Warriors with a 122-101 win in Game 6 on Friday. They will face the Denver Nuggets, who advanced past the Phoenix Suns on Thursday, in the Western Conference finals.
It is the first time the Warriors have been eliminated by a Western Conference team in the playoffs since they hired head coach Steve Kerr in 2014. They have since either reached the NBA Finals — winning four times and losing twice, once to James and the Cleveland Cavaliers and once to the Toronto Raptors — or missed the playoffs altogether in 2020 and 2021.
That 2021 campaign also ended in the play-in tournament, where they lost the first game to the Lakers.
James was masterful as ever on Friday, shooting 10-of-14 with 9 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 steals in addition to his scoring, while Anthony Davis dominated on defense and on the boards with 17 points, 20 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks. The Lakers are the second team to reach the conference finals from the play-in tournament this postseason, joining the Miami Heat.
How do you stop the Warriors on offense for an entire series? Turns out the answer is to have Davis guarding the interior while they go cold from 3-point range. The Warriors entered the game having shot 31.7% from deep in their previous three games and once again had a rough night at the perimeter, shooting a collective 13-of-48.
The struggles came from every player the Warriors usually rely on to hit teams from long range. Stephen Curry didn't look like Stephen Curry, shooting an inefficient 11-of-28 for 32 points. Klay Thompson definitely didn't look like the Klay Thompson of old, with 3-of-19 shooting and 8 points.
And Jordan Poole, well, he just disappeared, again. Last year's playoff breakout star finished a miserable series with 7 points on 3-of-10 shooting.
The Lakers never trailed Friday, jumping out to a double-digit lead midway through the first quarter. The Warriors kept the lead within single digits for much of the second, but an Austin Reaves halfcourt heave pushed the Lakers' lead to 10 as the buzzer sounded. Reaves finished the game with 20 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds.
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