Lakers at Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are on the verge of locking up the top seed in the Western Conference if they can avoid the type of letdown that occasionally plagues the defending champions. The Warriors will try to put together a third consecutive strong performance when they visit the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday.
Golden State opened its lead in the West up to two games with a 116-102 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday, shooting 54.5 percent from the floor and handing out 36 assists against the team closest to it in the standings. "You want that home court as long as you can get it," Warriors All-Star shooting guard Klay Thompson told reporters. "That was a huge game for us tonight. It was a goal of ours at the start of the season, and we're looking forward to locking that down in the next couple of games." Los Angeles is heading toward another early offseason and has not beaten a team in the top eight of its respective conference since a 111-106 LeBron James-led victory over the Houston Rockets on Feb. 21. The Lakers will play each of their four remaining games against West playoff opponents without leaving their own arena, with a road game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday and visits from the Utah Jazz and Portland Trail Blazers to close out the season.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (53-24): Golden State trounced the Charlotte Hornets 137-90 while shooting 60.2 percent from the floor on Sunday and was nearly as sharp on Tuesday as DeMarcus Cousins took the lead, scoring 28 points on 12-of-17 shooting. The lone blemish was star forward Kevin Durant picking up a pair of technical fouls and an ejection to reach 15 techs on the season - one shy of an automatic one-game suspension. "I thought he deserved the first technical. I didn't think he deserved the second one," Warriors coach Steve Kerr, whose team has been feuding with referees regularly of late, told reporters. "I was very surprised. I watched the whole thing. I didn't think he deserved to be ejected."
ABOUT THE LAKERS (35-43): Los Angeles had a chance to knock off a playoff team on Tuesday but instead dropped a 119-103 decision at Oklahoma City with an injury-shortened lineup. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope got the start at shooting guard and led the way with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting, and he is averaging 22.3 points on 54.3 percent shooting over the last three contests. Reserve shooting guard Alex Caruso is making the most of his increased court time as well and totaled 38 points on 12-of-20 shooting, including 5-of-5 from beyond the arc, over the last two games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Lakers PF Kyle Kuzma (foot) sat out his second straight game on Tuesday but has not yet been ruled out for the remainder of the season.
2. Warriors PG Stephen Curry is 32-of-59 from 3-point range over the last five games and knocked down at least five 3-pointers in each of his last nine contests.
3. Golden State took the last two meetings, including a 130-111 victory at Los Angeles on Jan. 21.