Los Angeles (USA), May 6 (EFE).- The Los Angeles Lakers, who started the season in a terrible way (2-10), are now only two wins away from getting into the Western final after this Saturday they beat the Golden State Warriors (127-97) with great authority to place the 2-1 in this conference semifinal.

The unexpected and amazing adventure of the Angelenos in these playoffs lived a new chapter for the illusion of the hand of a very serious defense and a stellar trio: LeBron James (did not score in the first quarter but finished the game with 21 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists), Anthony Davis (25 points and 13 rebounds) and D’Angelo Russell (21 points).

Instead, the Warriors suffered a day of misery in their visit to the mecca of Hollywood.

The current NBA champions, who had just won the second game by a resounding 127-100, accumulated 19 turnovers this afternoon, crashed in the triple (13 of 44 against the superb 15 of 31 of their rivals) and barely they went to the personal line (12 of 17 to the Lakers’ 28 of 37).

Stephen Curry led Golden State with 23 points (9-of-21 shooting) while Klay Thompson added 15 points (5-of-14) and Andrew Wiggins had 16 points and 9 rebounds.

The fourth game of this tie will be played this Monday also in Los Angeles.

RUSSELL ASKS FOR STEP

Neither LeBron nor Davis monopolized the spotlight in the Los Angeles start: it was Russell who started the match like a rocket with 11 points in a row including three triples.

Unlike Davis, who did wake up as the minutes went by, LeBron signed a strange and very absent first quarter in which he finished with 0 points and without attempting a single shot at the basket.

This was the first time in his two decades of golden NBA career that LeBron did not look at the basket in the first period of a playoff game.

LeBron’s paralysis was a reflection of an overly predictable and static Lakers attack outside of Russell and Davis, who between them scored 21 of their team’s 23 points.

Much more balanced and coral, the Warriors only had to push the accelerator a little to close the first twelve minutes ahead (23-30) thanks to 11 points and three three-pointers from Thompson.

This trend continued into the second quarter with the Lakers clumsy on offense and insecure behind.

Without making much noise, the Warriors drew a remarkable 29-40 with 7.49 left for the break, but then the wind of the game changed radically.

The Angelenos tightened on defense, LeBron finally scored his first points in the middle of the fourth and the lighthouse of those in purple and gold also crowned a phenomenal 13-0 run with a three-pointer that turned the game around.

The thing did not stop there.

Faced with some Lakers now launched and convinced, the Warriors got stuck in a surprising drought and they stumbled over and over again with improper errors, turnovers and shooting failures (7 of 23 in that quarter).

With the two teams in totally opposite directions, the Lakers closed the last eight minutes with an impressive 30-8 run and went to the locker room with a smile (59-48) and with Russell as the top scorer with 21 points and five three-pointers.

NO VISITOR REACTION

The bad news did not stop at the restart for Golden State, which saw Draymond Green add his fourth foul while the Lakers gave a small stretch to the score (65-50 with 9.26 on the clock).

Two minutes later, Davis penalized Green for his fifth foul and the controversial, all-rounder for the Warriors had to go to the bench.

At the worst moment in Golden State, Wiggins starred in one of the most spectacular plays of these playoffs: an extraordinary dunk in the face of a Davis who couldn’t do anything before the impressive jump from the forward.

LeBron was not far behind, who chained a beautiful basket turning on himself with a great block on Jordan Poole.

Curry seemed to bring the Warriors to life with 10 points in the third quarter but it was a mirage as the visiting defense continued to be a sieve with thousands of holes.

Thus, the Lakers maintained their cruising speed, they grabbed a LeBron now totally plugged in (11 points in that period) and they came to win by 20 points before the last quarter (86-68).

There was not even an appeal to the epic in Golden State: Dennis Schröder and Austin Reaves chained two triples for the locals and Steve Kerr withdrew his figures and brought out the white flag with his team at -26 and still 9 minutes to play.

David Villafranca

California18

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