Warriors Blown Out by Lakers After Mike Brown’s Firing

November 9, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant (24) makes a shot over Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson (11) in the first half of the game at the Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

I’m sure most Warrior fans are asking,”Why didn’t the Lakers fire Mike Brown after tonight’s game?”. I, for one, would have loved to see the Mike Brown-led Lakers run the Princeton Offense (which, judging by the Lakers’ record, hasn’t been effective at all this season) and hilariously fail, handing the Warriors a win.

But that, unfortunately, didn’t happen. The Lakers canned head coach Mike Brown just five games into the season, and in their sixth game, Los Angeles blew out the Warriors with a convincing 101-77 win at Staples Center.

Kobe Bryant, feeling good after getting his coach fired, had a game high 27 points on 10/18 shooting, along with nine rebounds and seven assists. For the Warriors, Stephen Curry finished with 18 points and Klay Thompson put in 15 – those two were the only effective players for the Dubs tonight.

Matt Steinmetz describes the “key stretch” of the game, when the Lakers pulled away in the third quarter:

"Midway through the third period, the Warriors trailed just 54-50, and the Lakers weren’t exactly looking like world-beaters. But Bryant led the Lakers on a 10-0 run that set them up with their biggest lead of the night. Bryant had four points and an assist during the run, and the Warriors went three-plus minutes without a score."

The Warriors clearly missed the presence of center Andrew Bogut, who is out 7-10 days with the recurring ankle issues. Rookie Festus Ezeli started the game, and disgruntled benchwarmer Andris Biedrins saw over nine minutes of action at center (which is a lot for him). Naturally, Biedrins was fouled not long after he entered the game, and badly missed two free throws: one clanked off the rim, and the other missed the basket entirely by seven feet (I’m not exaggerating).

In terms of stats, the Lakers were better than the Warriors in every single category. They had more points in the paint, more fastbreak points, and more rebounds. Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol had their way with the Warriors, who were simply undermanned against two of the most dominant big men in the NBA. And of course, it would help if they had shot higher than 33 percent from the field and 28 percent from three-point range.

The Warriors won’t have much time to dwell on this loss, as they fly home to face the Denver Nuggets tomorrow night at Oracle Arena. Both teams are 3-3, and will be playing the second game of a back-to-back, but the Nuggets will have more momentum, as they soundly beat the Jazz tonight by twenty points.