The Warriors showed their strategy very early on and it was an aggressive one: don’t let LeBron beat you. Using Kelly Oubre Jr. to press and deny LeBron James worked to keep the ball from LeBron’s hands but James didn’t force the issue. Instead, his teammates picked up the slack for him. Notably, Dennis Schroder had 14 points and Anthony Davis took over the playmaking load. Davis had six assists, five rebounds, and four points in the opening quarter, as the Lakers led 34-22 after the first quarter.
Curry missed his first four shots, including a wide-open 3-pointer towards the end of the quarter, but he made up for it with a buzzer-beater at the end of the quarter to cut the Lakers lead to just 12.
#StephGonnaSteph pic.twitter.com/iLVO75USJu
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) January 19, 2021
James only had two points in the first quarter and the Lakers were still able to hold a double-digit lead. The Lakers depth has allowed LeBron to play a career-low in minutes this season but Monday night’s first quarter was just the latest example of L.A.’s depth and growth in being able to play, even when the team does everything to take LeBron out of the game.
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