Curry, Wiggins lift Warriors to 121-106 win over the Lakers in Game 5

SAN FRANCISCO — Steph Curry scored 27 points and dished off 8 assists while Andrew Wiggins added 25 points and 7 rebounds leading the Golden State Warriors to a 121-106 win over the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday night, forcing a Game 6 on Friday night.

The Lakers will attempt to clinch the series in Los Angeles where they are 8-0 in the playoffs. And the Warriors face a formable challenge.

Winning a series after trailing 3-1 is a daunting task. In the 277 times a team has faced a 3-1 series deficit, only 13 have come back to win the series. One of those teams, however, was the 2016 Warriors, who overcame a 3-1 series deficit against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals. 

Lakers star Anthony Davis took an elbow to the head from Kevon Looney that left him wobbly on his feet as he was led from the court midway through the fourth. He didn’t return and finished the night with 23 points and 9 rebounds.

LeBron James added 25 points and pulled down 9 rebounds. 

Without Davis’ defensive presence on the court, Golden State’s offense went into high gear. Curry scored seven straight points and Wiggins added a basket and foul shot to extend the lead to 114-100 with 2:47 to go.

At that point, both coaches emptied their benches.

Draymond Green forced the action all night, scoring 20 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Meanwhile, Jordan Poole shook off his playoff blues scoring 11 points.

The Warriors stretched their lead to 79-61 with 9:10 remaining in the third quarter, but the Lakers refused to wilt and rallied, pulling back within 11 points heading into the fourth.

Golden State missed all nine of their 3-pointers in the third and turned the ball over five times.

Both teams had kept up their hot hand from the field in the second quarter. The Lakers hit on 23-of-40 shots in the half while Golden State cashed in on 26-of-48 attempts including 11 3-pointers.

Curry capped a 16-5 Warriors run with a 3-pointer at the second quarter buzzer to lift Golden State to a 70-59 half time advantage.

 The Warriors up-tempo, cutting offense kept the Lakers on their heels as they had 17 assists on its 26 made shots. Meanwhile, Los Angeles only held a one-point advantage from the free throw line and their 8 turnovers led to 16 Golden State points.

Wiggins led the Warriors with 16 points and Green added 14.  Davis led the Lakers with 18 points on eight-of-12 shooting and James chipped in 17 on 5-of-10 shooting including 3-of-5 from the 3-point line.

Facing elimination, the Warriors jumped out to a 17-5 lead behind 8 points from Green and assists from Curry with 7:28 remaining in the first quarter. 

But the Lakers rallied behind the early play of Austin Reaves who banked in a long three-pointer to start a 9-2 Los Angeles run and a Davis dunk drew to the Lakers to within 21-16 with 4:16 remaining in the first quarter.

The Warriors hit seven three-pointers in the quarter, but Los Angeles trailed by four, 32-28, at the first break.