DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Los Angeles guard Gary Payton ran into the defense of Golden State's Erick Dampier (left) and Clifford Robinson last night.
Warriors
salvage splitBehind 20 points from
Speedy Claxton, Golden State
beats Los Angeles 99-83
It would have been difficult for the second night of the Los Angeles Lakers' two-game series with the Golden State Warriors to live up to the hype of the first.
It didn't.
Golden State salvaged a split of the NBA exhibition series with the Lakers with a 99-83 victory before a sellout crowd at the Stan Sheriff Center.
After falling to the Lakers' star-studded lineup in Tuesday night's preseason opener, the Warriors, who have five players back from last year's squad, outscored the Lakers 33-11 in the second quarter and maintained the commanding lead throughout the second half.
"We just have so many new guys that it's going to take some time for us to jell, and we did a much better job of passing the ball tonight," Golden State coach Eric Musselman said.
Playing primarily against the Los Angeles reserves, backup guard Speedy Claxton lived up to his moniker by slicing through the Laker defense for a game-high 20 points for Golden State.
Jason Richardson and Erick Dampier led the Warriors starters with 14 points each, while Calbert Cheaney recovered from a 0-for-5 shooting night on Tuesday to score 14 off the bench.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Gary Payton and Shaquille O'Neal (right) showed their frustration on the Lakers' bench.
"The first team did a good job and the second team did well," Musselman said. "Claxton gave us a lot of energy off the bench and Calbert did a good job of bouncing back from last night."
Point guard Gary Payton led Los Angeles with 11 points, while center Shaquille O'Neal added 10 on 3-of-11 shooting from the field.
"Golden State has a lot of pride; they got embarrassed last night and they came back and embarrassed us," Payton said.
O'Neal also led the Lakers with eight rebounds and five assists. Karl Malone posted eight points and six rebounds in his second game as a Laker. Reserves Jannero Pargo and Kareem Rush had 10 points each off the bench.
The Lakers starters built a 24-22 lead after the first quarter and both teams went deep into their benches in the second period. Golden State then took control with a 22-1 run sparked by Claxton and Cheaney.
"We won the first quarter with the first unit and the second quarter was a nightmare," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.
"The starting unit has to set the tone for the guys coming off the bench, so if they make a mistake it's not magnified," Malone said. "That's what preseason is about, working those things out."
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Calbert Cheaney battled Los Angeles' Gary Payton and Shaquille O'Neal for a rebound.
The 5-foot-11 Claxton sped past Laker defenders to hit all four of his attempts from the field and score 10 points in the quarter. Cheaney hit for 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting and knocked down a jumper to give the Warriors a 47-30 lead with 4:25 left in the half.
"Golden State played a very aggressive game and we weren't ready to handle it," Jackson said.
The Lakers managed just two field goals in the quarter and were 10-for-38 in the first half. After Rush hit a 3-pointer to give the Lakers a 27-23 advantage in the first minute of the second quarter, Los Angeles went 7 minutes, 18 seconds before recording its next field goal, a jumper by Stephane Pelle.
The Warriors took a 55-35 lead into halftime and with the starters back in for the majority of the third quarter, Golden State continued to maintain a controlling lead.
The Warriors turned in the game's most spectacular moment when Nick Van Exel floated up a lob that Richardson converted with a reverse dunk.
Van Exel later hit a 3-pointer from the left corner with 3.8 seconds left in the period to give the Warriors an 86-62 lead.
The Lakers return to Los Angeles today without star guard Kobe Bryant, who reportedly left Hawaii yesterday to travel to Colorado. He is to appear in an Eagle, Colo., courtroom today for a preliminary hearing in his sexual assault case.
"Everybody's going to call him ... and we're just going to wish him good luck," Payton said. "He's going to be fine. He'll go through it (today), but we'll call him and give him all our support."
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Robinson 2 6 0 0 37 2 4 5 Richardson 6 9 2 2 32 4 1 14 Dampier 4 8 6 8 33 8 2 14 Dunleavy 2 3 0 0 27 7 1 5 Van Exel 4 9 0 1 34 1 6 9 Pietrus 2 7 1 2 12 4 1 5 Sanchez 1 2 0 0 8 1 0 3 Hawkins 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 Claxton 8 11 3 3 9 0 1 20 Hamilton 3 5 0 2 0 8 0 6 Cardinal 1 3 0 0 10 3 1 2 Cheaney 6 10 2 3 23 2 2 14 Jones 1 3 0 0 13 9 1 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 Totals 40 77 14 21 240 58 20 99 LOS ANGELES LAKERS fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Fisher 3 8 2 3 20 0 1 9 George 4 7 0 0 22 3 0 9 Malone 3 6 2 4 20 6 1 8 Payton 4 8 2 2 19 1 3 11 O'Neal 3 11 4 8 22 8 5 10 Carter 0 1 0 2 6 0 1 0 Walton 1 1 0 0 14 2 2 2 Udoka 1 2 0 0 9 0 0 3 Archibong 0 3 2 2 15 2 1 2 Cook 0 1 0 0 10 2 0 0 Pelle 1 3 3 4 12 2 0 5 Pargo 3 9 1 2 19 1 3 10 Medvedenko 2 6 0 0 15 4 0 4 Rush 4 8 0 0 15 2 1 10 Chenowith 0 1 0 0 9 1 0 0 Sampson 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 Grant 0 3 0 0 7 0 0 0 Team 12 Totals 29 78 16 27 240 46 18 83
Golden State 22 33 31 13 -- 99 L.A. Lakers 24 11 27 21 -- 83
3-Point Goals--Golden State 5-11 (Robinson 1-2, Claxton 1-2, Van Exel 1-3, Dunleavy 1-1, Sanchez 1-1, Richardson 0-1, Pietrus 0-1), L.A. Lakers 9-14 (Pargo 3-5, Rush 2-4, Fisher 1-2, George 1-1, Payton 1-1, Udoka 1-1). A--10,300.
