The Warriors turned a game that looked lost into their biggest comeback since 2015, beating the Lakers 112-95 after trailing by as many as 25 points. Luka Doncic poured in 21 points in the first quarter, then finished with 37, but Golden State kept chipping away until the margin flipped into a 17-point win.
That is why Luka stats are being searched now: Doncic came in with extra attention after Yaxel Lendeborg had told him in the season opener that he sucks and said he had lost all respect for him. At Chase Center, the Lakers opened fast and the Warriors were stuck in a 38-15 first quarter, only for Golden State to answer with a 38-15 second quarter that changed the game completely.
The swing was not just about shot-making. Golden State’s bench outscored the Lakers’ bench 50-7, and the Warriors held Los Angeles to 15 points in each of the second and fourth quarters. That mattered because Doncic had five assists in his first 12 minutes and none in his next 25, which meant the Lakers’ early offense became much easier to track once the Warriors settled in.
Steph Curry was part of that pressure, attacking Doncic on switches and even dropping him on a step-back 3 to the blue NBA Cup court. Curry later said that was part of the response, while De’Anthony Melton said the Lakers came out with the hype from the last game and the talk around it, tried to punch Golden State in the mouth and teach them a lesson, and the Warriors answered after taking the hit. Yaxel Lendeborg started on Doncic, but foul trouble mostly removed him from the matchup, leaving Golden State to lean on its help defense and its bench to finish the job.
The result pushes the Warriors to 3-3 and leaves them with a third straight win, but the larger point is simpler: when Doncic stopped creating for others after that blistering first stretch, Golden State took away the air around his scoring and turned a feud-fueled night into a statement comeback. The next question is not whether the Warriors can score with elite teams; it is whether they can repeat this kind of defensive control when the first-quarter storm comes again.
