LOS ANGELES – Floyd Mayweather, Trinity Rodman, Younger Thug and beloved hometown hooper Pau Gasol have been among the many celebrities dotting the Crypto.com Area crowd on Thursday night time.
They got here to see dazzling performances by visiting Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler in opposition to purple-and-gold superstars LeBron James and Luka Doncic within the first matchup between the bitter rivals with retooled lineups and ambitions of securing homecourt benefit within the first spherical of the upcoming Western Convention playoffs.
And as anticipated, the massive names had large nights in Golden State’s thrilling 123-116 victory in Southern California.
Curry scored 37, James put in 33 after a scoreless first quarter, Doncic totaled 19 factors and 7 assists.
Jonathan Kuminga had 18 factors after lacking Tuesday’s recreation with a bruised pelvis. Butler scored 11 and Austin Reaves scored 31 and nearly single-handedly introduced the Lakers again within the fourth quarter.
James and Curry traded baskets late in fourth, and 28-point scorer Brandin Podziemski made a giant three-pointer, solely to be answered by Austin Reaves to maintain the lead at seven.
Reaves made one other three after two Butler free throws to chop the Warriors’ benefit to 119-113, however Defensive Participant of the 12 months candidate Draymond Inexperienced had the cease of the night time when he got here up with a steal on the following Lakers possession.
The Warriors (45-31) are the fifth seed, now a half-game in entrance of sixth-seeded Memphis (45-32) and the No. 7 seed Minnesota (45-32) within the West standings. The Lakers (46-30) remained the No. 3 seed.
The Warriors led 60-47 at halftime, and 88-77 after three quarters. Golden State completed its six-game highway journey 4-2, each losses coming with Curry out of the lineup with a bruised pelvis.
The Warriors will play host to No. 4 seed Denver on Friday night time.
Initially Printed: April 3, 2025 at 9:45 PM PDT
