Of all the teams to break the dynasty, I guess it had to be them. The Los Angeles Lakers have ended the Warriors incredible dynasty as the blew out GS 122-101 in Game 6 to win the series 4-2 and reach the Western Conference Finals.
That’s how you take down the most prolific dynasty the league has seen since…well, Kobe and Shaq’s 2000’s Los Angeles Lakers.
The Golden State Warriors have finally tasted defeat in the playoffs to a Western Conference seed as the Los Angeles Lakers utterly trounced the dynasty 122-101 in front of the roaring, star-studded Los Angeles crowd, ensuring the Lakers play for yet another chance to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. And what a way to end the league’s most prolific dynasty of the 2010’s and early 2020’s.
Who would have thought after winning the NBA championship last season against all the odds, the Golden State Warriors dynasty would end with a whimper against an equally old, historic team?
Well, probably everyone in Los Angeles as the Lakers absolutely annihilated the Warriors from the first minute of the game to the last minute.
In what can only be described as a massacre, the Lakers held the Golden State Warriors, the very same team with the legendary Splash Brothers (Steph Curry and Klay Thompson), Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole, Donte DiVincenzo, Draymond Green, and Moses Moody, to just 37.9% shooting from the field, 27.1% shooting from the 3-point line, almost a full 18 points under their regular season average of 118.9 PPG, and 12 points under their postseason average of 113.1 PPG.
Yes, you read that right.
The Golden State Warriors with Steph Curry (32 PTS, 6 REB, 5 AST, 11-28 FG shooting, 4-14 3-point shooting), Klay Thompson (8 PTS, 3 REB, 5 AST, 3-19 FG shooting, 2-12 3-point shooting), Andrew Wiggins (6 PTS, 2 REB, 3 AST, 2-8 FG shooting, 0-3 3-point shooting), Draymond Green (9 PTS, 9 REB, 3 AST, 4-8 FG shooting, 1-3 3-point shooting), and Jordan Poole (7 PTS, 0 REB, 4 AST, 3-10 FG shooting, 0-3 3-point shooting) to just 101 points, less than 40% FG shooting, and less than 30% 3-point shooting.
That’s incredible!
I’m really struggling to remember a series of such high magnitude where the Warriors not only got trounced for 20+ on the scoreboard in multiple games, but also had such awful shooting performances.
Game 6 was the third time this series the Warriors scored less than 102 points, the third time the Warriors shot under 30% from beyond the arc, the second time the Warriors shot below 40% from the field and 30% from the 3-point line in the same game, and the first time under the Steve Kerr era were the Warriors failed to win a road playoff game in a series.
Yes, in the previous 25 playoff series under Kerr, the Warriors dynasty managed to go on the road and win at least a single playoff game, yet that streak was broken last night along with the frankly ridiculous record of making it out of the Western Conference whenever the Warriors reached the playoffs.
That’s right, the Warriors also haven’t lost a Western Conference playoff series in nearly a decade.
Nevertheless, with all that history and record breaking out of the way, let me praise the Lakers for giving one of the most complete playoff performances in franchise history.
Sure, this win was only to reach the Western Conference Finals and pales in comparison to the 17 title victories of the past, yet it was always going to take a herculean effort to upset the unconquerable (in the Western Conference, that is) Golden State Warriors.
And that’s exactly the effort the Lakers got as LeBron James (30 PTS, 9 REB, 9 AST, 2 STLs, 1 BLK), Anthony Davis (17 PTS, 20 REB, 3 AST, 2 STLs, 2 BLKs), D’Angelo Russell (19 PTS, 2 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL), Austin Reaves (23 PTS, 5 REB, 6 AST, 1 half court buzzer beater), Lonnie Walker IV (13 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST), and Rui Hachimura (9 PTS, 3 REB, 0 AST, 2 BLKs) all scored at least 9 points, while King James and AD had monster games.
LeBron James led all Lakers in scoring as he nearly had a triple double, while Anthony Davis utterly destroyed any forward, center, or guard the Warriors sent on him as he had an astonishing 20 rebounds and helped the Lakers outscore Golden State 46-44 in the paint and 22-8 from fast-break points.
Pretty insane, right?
Well, what makes this win even more impressive was the fact that the Lakers, who were one of the worst shooting teams in the regular season, scored 52.0% of their FG attempts (39-75), 50.0% of their 3-point tries (13-26), caused the Warriors to foul 30 times, led by as much as 24, led in every single quarter, and never gave up the lead to Golden State once.
Again, I know it’s hard to believe, but the Warriors never led for a single second of Game 6, let alone a quarter or half.
That’s why this has to be one of the most comprehensive Lakers wins in franchise history as they not only beat the breaks off their most fearsome Western Conference foe in the late 2010’s/early 2020’s (yes, the bar’s not too high with LA’s struggles, but it’s true), but also broke the greatest NBA dynasty of the 2010’s.
I don’t believe the Lakers can sustain such excellence from the field against the Denver Nuggets in the Conference Finals, but I’m sure LA fans won’t care as they have a chance to win a record-breaking 18th NBA championship to be the undisputed greatest franchise in NBA history!
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