LOS ANGELES – The Warriors were blasted off the Staples Center floor Friday, and there was nothing Kevin Durant could do about it.
And, oh, did he try.
Durant provided the team’s only consistent offensive juice, scoring a game-high 27 points in a 117-97 loss to the Lakers. The Warriors never led and trailed by as much as 22 in the second half, as the sellout crowd roared with delight.
“We let our offense dictate our defense tonight,” Durant said. “We started off slow, and we kind of hung our heads a bit. And it affected us on the defensive end.”
With the exception of Draymond Green (16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field), Durant was surrounded by uncharacteristic shooting ineptitude by Steph Curry (13 points on 5-of-17) and Klay Thompson (10 on 4-of-18).
Durant’s complete line: 27 points (10-of-16, 2-of-4 from deep), five rebounds, three assists, two steals, two turnovers and one blocked shot. He played 35 minutes and was minus-17.
Sports
Durant has shot at least 50 percent from the field in five of the first six games this season and is shooting 59.3 percent overall.
