OAKLAND One has to wonder, after the spirited effort the Warriors gave in Wednesday night's 114-106 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at Oracle Arena: What would their record be if they played like this every night?
To be sure, 48.4 percent shooting, 25 assists, 56 points in the paint and 28 fast-break points wasn't enough to beat the Los Angeles Lakers, who were without forwards Luke Walton (injured right foot) and Lamar Odom (bone bruise, right knee). But those numbers, that type of energy, figure to be good enough to beat Oklahoma City, Minnesota, Memphis NBA doormats who claimed victory over Golden State. "We just need to learn how we can do that," said center Andris Biedrins, who finished with 12 points, 17 rebounds, eight assists, three steals, three blocks and one turnover in 38 minutes.
"Against strong teams, we concentrate more, prepare harder I guess. If we play like this every game, we would be great. Being young, we have to prepare for every single game. It doesn't matter if the team is at the top of the conference or the bottom."
Such a level of play may be tougher to reach in the near future, as the Warriors got more bad injury news. One game after swingman Stephen Jackson went down with a strained right hamstring, the Warriors lost second-year forward Brandan Wright to a partially dislocated left shoulder late in the second quarter.
He sustained the injury trying to contest a dunk by Pau Gasol, colliding with the Lakers forward in the air. His shoulder was popped back into place. An MRI is scheduled for today.
Losing Wright didn't dampen the Warriors for the second half. Golden State, loser of four straight, went blow-for-blow with the owner of the best record in the Western Conference. Unfortunately for the Warriors, they couldn't stop forward Pau Gasol who finished with 33 points and 18 rebounds. They also committed five of their 17 turnovers in the fourth quarter and gave up 58 percent shooting in that span.
Still, one has to think they wouldn't be 10-27 if they brought it at this level every game.
"When we play at home, we have the fans, we have everything," said guard Marco Belinelli, who scored his 14 points on 6-for-15 shooting. "But when we go on the road, we have to play with this same aggression and we will be fine."
Once down by as much as 17 in the second quarter, the Warriors rode a wave of energy to take the lead in the third quarter.
Down five at the half, Belinelli opened the third quarter with back-to-back jumpers to keep the party going in Oracle Arena. A finger roll by guard Jamal Crawford - who had 25 points on 26 shots with nine assists and five turnovers gave the Warriors their first lead since late in the first quarter, 59-58.
The Warriors still led by six late in the third, but the Lakers began to assert themselves down the stretch. And the Warriors began to wilt.
Over the first six minutes of the fourth quarter, Golden State was 3-for-8 with five turnovers. The Warriors led 87-83 with just over eight minutes left when things began to unravel.
Swingman Sasha Vujacic gave Los Angeles the lead again, 90-87, with a 3-pointer from the right wing with 7:18 left. After a shot-clock violation by the Warriors moments later, Gasol got an offensive rebound and nailed a jump shot, putting the Warriors down 96-89.
With just over four minutes left, Belinelli airballed a floater. On the other end, Kobe Bryant was stripped by C.J. Watson, but the ball fell right into the hands of Gasol, who put it in for a 102-91 Lakers lead with 3:54 left, capping a 19-4 run by the Lakers.
"No problems with the way we played," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "I thought we followed our game plan pretty well. We made some errors. But we played pretty well for a long period of time. ... No problem when we compete like that."
Contact Marcus Thompson II at mthomps2@bayareanewsgroup.com.Lakers 114, Warriors 106next game: Saturday, at Trail Blazers, 7 p.m.
