But that’s why we play: To compete against the best and see what we’ve got. “Because these guys are such competitors, it’s going to hurt. “The better team won, and I can’t fault our players for the effort,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. Golden State has played in six of the last eight NBA Finals, missing the playoffs entirely in the other two seasons. James, Davis and the Lakers are the first team since 2014 to eliminate Curry’s Warriors from the playoffs before the NBA Finals. “Our vibes stayed positive, and finally our new pieces came together.”

“It’s been a challenging year, to say the least, but we kept powering through,” first-year head coach Darvin Ham said. They also snapped Golden State’s streak of 28 playoff series with at least one road victory – an NBA-record run encompassing Curry’s entire career. While routing the Warriors one last time, the Lakers improved to 7-0 at home since the regular season ended. Austin Reaves scored 23 points - highlighted by a 54-footer from midcourt at the halftime buzzer - along with six assists and five rebounds while Los Angeles inexorably pulled away, weathering every attempt by Stephen Curry to will the Warriors back into it. I thought we were locked in for as close to 48 minutes as possible tonight.”ĭavis had 17 points and 20 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Lakers, who never trailed in their third home victory over Golden State in seven days. “We defended at a high level, and when we do that, we can be extremely good.

“It was great to be able to play one of our most efficient games, one of our best games of the series, and it started because of the defensive matchup we had,” James said. James had 30 points, nine rebounds and nine assists and the Lakers ended the Golden State Warriors’ reign with a 122-101 victory in Game 6 of the second-round series. The superstars won a ring together only three years ago, and they shared a joyous hug Friday night after they led their team to its biggest home victory in over a decade.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Six months and a day after the Los Angeles Lakers fell to 2-10 to start the regular season, they emphatically eliminated the defending NBA champions to reach the Western Conference finals.Īlthough the Lakers’ transformation has become increasingly incredible over the past several weeks, the primary forces behind it are LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu

Stranded with the SEAL by Amy Gamet