For the second Thursday prime time game, the Golden State Warriors host the LeBron James-less Lakers, who own the league’s best record. Tip-off is at 10:30 p.m. ET on TNT.
The Warriors have lost seven straight, and more importantly, those losses have come home in the newly-erected Chase Center. In the last meeting with the Lakers, however, Andrew Wiggins impressed in his Dubs debut with 24 points off 8-12 shooting. Though they fought hard to stay in it, they succumbed to LeBron’s heroics, ultimately losing by five in a 125-120 loss. Tonight may tell a different story for the Warriors, as LeBron James will take the night off with a sore groin, suffered after barraging the Pelicans for 40 on Tuesday night.
Though their year hasn’t been pretty with the Dubs losing key players to injury, the 12-win Dubs play with grit and aggression, and as they pushed the Lakers to the limit in their last matchup by out-hustling them, they forced 15 of the Lakers’ 24 turnovers that night. And just like any Steve Kerr-coached Warriors team, they shared the ball for a game-high 31 assists and swatted six attempts at the rim, all with guys like Eric Paschall, Omari Spellman, Jacob Evans III, and Damion Lee.
It is now being reported that Wiggins won’t suit up for tonight’s contest in San Francisco, but that won’t be an excuse for the energetic Warriors to not play hard for 48 minutes. Three weeks after the Lakers’ first-ever win against the Lakers outside of the legendary Oracle Arena, the Dubs are eager to snap their losing streak for some pride in a season where there is practically nothing to play for at this point.
And with some high energy, proper shot selection, and forcing the defense’s hand while aggressively driving the ball to get to the middle of the floor on the offensive end, maybe, just maybe, these Warriors can earn a gritty win against the West’s most majestic squad.
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