The odds were against the Lakers heading into Saturday evening’s contest against the Warriors even before LeBron James was a late scratch due to load management, though they made it interesting before Golden State eventually prevailed with a 115-101 win in the final regular season game at Oracle Arena for L.A.
The attention of the twice defending champions was piqued, considering L.A. jumped all over them in their building on Christmas Day – the last time LeBron played prior to his 40-minute return in Thursday’s OT win over the Clippers – and that the Warriors had lost to Philly on Thursday.