Lakers Fall Short After Dominant Start For 2nd Loss of Season

Support Local Media - Click to Add LA Sports Report as a Preferred Source on GoogleThe Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Golden State Warriors, 112-95, on Friday for their second loss of the 2026-27 season.The Lakers dominated the Warriors out of the gate, outscoring the hosts by a score of 38-15 in the first quarter. Luka Doncic came hot out of the gate, scoring 21 points with three rebounds and five assists while playing the entire quarter—perhaps due to his previous run in with Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg, who spoke poorly of Doncic to the media following the Warriors’ season-opening loss. After the first quarter, though, the Lakers failed to maintain their momentum.The Warriors stormed back in the second quarter, mirroring the scoreline in the first period of play to tie the game at 53 heading into the half. Los Angeles managed to keep things close in the third quarter, trailing by just five points with the fourth still to play, but let the game slip away as the Warriors outscored them by 12 to close out the game.What Went Wrong For the Lakers?The Lakers had a good night on the glass, out-rebounding their opponents for the second consecutive game while logging 11 blocks on the night. Despite their rebounding proficiency, though, the Warriors still managed four more second-chance points than the Lakers.Doncic was a bright spot for the Lakers—outside of an unfortunate defensive incident while guarding Steph Curry in the third quarter—scoring a total of 37 points on the evening with seven rebounds and five assists. He is averaging a league-leading 36.2 points per game this season, and his 7.6 assists per game rank eighth in the NBA. Austin Reaves served as the team’s second-highest scorer with 21 points.While their top two options had solid games, the Lakers clearly needed another one of their players to step into a bigger role. Walker Kessler had a monster night against the Warriors in the opening game of the season, but only made four of his seven shots on Friday compared to the 12-of-12 performance he had in the Lakers’ win against the Warriors last week.The Lakers clearly need to find reliable scoring from an option other than Doncic and Reaves, and will hope to solve that problem before their next game. That game comes against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday at 6:00 p.m. PT, when the Lakers look to return to winning ways following two losses in their last three games.The post Lakers Fall Short After Dominant Start For 2nd Loss of Season appeared first on LA Sports Report.