Warriors fizzle out in home finale to Lakers 119-103

SAN FRANCISCO — Steph Curry rested his knee, and the Golden State Warriors offense proved once again its not ready for prime time.

Lebron James led all scorers with 26 points and barely missed a triple double as the Los Angeles Lakers cruised to a 119-103 victory in the home finale for the Warriors on Thursday evening at Chase Center.

Golden State head coach Steve Kerr and the medical staff wanted to rest Curry in the front end of their last back-to-back of the season. The Warriors head up I-80 to take on the lottery bound Sacramento Kings on Friday evening. It's been a trying season to say the least for Kerr and his coaching staff.

"Obviously we’ve been through the ringer here over the last six, eight weeks. But we’re in a position where we have a chance to get into the playoffs," Kerr said optimistically.

Curry will play against Sacramento but at this point the final two games of the season are meaningless. With the loss, the Warriors guaranteed to finish 10th in the Western Conference and will travel to Portland to take on the Trailblazers on Wednesday night for the play-in game between the 9th place and 10th place teams. The winner goes on to face the loser of the 7th and 8th place play-in game, and the loser will be making tee times.

Brandon Podziemski and Nate Williams scored 17 points each to lead the Warriors in scoring. Pat Spencer had 12 points and six assists as he started in place of Curry. Steph’s brother Seth chipped in with 11 points and Gary Payton II had 10 points to lead the Warriors bench.

The game itself was lackluster with the Lakers being without their superstar Luka Doncic and guard Austin Reaves, both were out for the game with season ending injuries. Even James’ 26 points were quiet as he was aided by Deandre Ayton’s 21 points.

DeAnthony Melton and Draymond Green only contributed a combined four points as Golden State shot a woeful 30 percent from beyond the arc compared to Los Angeles’ 55 percent. The Warriors nine three-pointers matched a season low.

The Lakers put the game away early in the fourth quarter with a 13-2 run to put them up 95-75 with 9:01 left in the game after a Jake LaRavia three-pointer. Golden State never made a run to close the gap as Kerr conceded the loss at that point.

"We just had a sour taste in our mouth obviously for like the last week," said James regarding his team's mindset. "Obviously, with the news that we got with A.R. (Austin Reaves) and Luka (Doncic), and then us dropping three in a row. None of us wants to continue to lose, and then we hurt for our two main guns. Mindset of just tryin' to figure out how we can be great as a team, how we can figure out how to play well on the road and try to get a win. Just the mindset."

The Warriors close out the regular season down in SoCal on Sunday against the Clippers. However, number 30 may sit that game out as well to give his knee an extra day of rest to get it ready for Portland.

Kerr hopes to have centers Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford ready for the play-in game as Horford has been able to practice during 5-on-5 scrimmages. Porzingis is dealing with his anemic health condition that kept him out of the game against the Lakers.

"Got some guys who are getting healthy," said Kerr referring to his big men. "Have a chance to hopefully put together a game tomorrow where we have what our roster would look like for the Play-In games. So tomorrow and Sunday to develop a little rhythm and get a swing at it. We got some hope.”

Getting those players back doesn’t guarantee the Warriors moving past the potential two-play in games to finish as the 8th seed and have a first round matchup with the defending NBA Champions Oklahoma City Thunder. It just doesn’t seem worth it to go through all that trouble and put further wear and tear on Curry’s 38-year-old body when they could be ousted in four or five games.

If that indeed was the last home game of the season, the Warriors didn’t give the fans any hope or excitement on Fan Appreciation Night.