Rajon Rondo scored eight of his 12 points during a third-quarter run-away Thursday night, allowing the visiting Los Angeles Lakers to break open a close game en route to a 116-86 blowout win over the Golden State Warriors. Anthony Davis went for a game-high-tying 23 points for the Lakers, who won their seventh straight despite giving LeBron James the night off to rest a sore groin.
Rookie Eric Paschall had 23 points for Golden State, which played without Andrew Wiggins, bothered by back spasms, before losing Draymond Green to a two-technical-foul ejection in the second quarter. The loss was Golden State's eighth straight overall and eighth in a row at home.
Lakers dominate third-quarter
Despite the loss of Green, the Warriors hung within 54-52 at halftime and were still down just 65-62 after a 3-pointer by Damion Lee with 9:11 remaining in the third period. But in the opener of a four-day, three-game trip, the Lakers dominated the rest of the quarter, scoring 29 of the period's final 36 points to mushroom the advantage to 94-69.
Rondo (eight), Davis (six), Kyle Kuzma (six) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (five) accounted for 25 of the 29 points. Six players wound up scoring in double figures for the Lakers, who beat Golden State for the third time this season to clinch their first season-series win over their Northern California rival since 2013.
Kuzma had 18 points, and Dwight Howard had 13, while Avery Bradley and JaVale McGee joined Rondo with 12 apiece. Howard also had a game-high nine rebounds, and Rondo a team-high six assists for Los Angeles, which won its fourth straight on the road.
Lakers outshoot
Led by Howard and McGee, who combined to shoot 9-for-10, the Lakers outshot the Warriors 51.7 percent to 42.5 percent. Paschall hit seven of his 14 shots en route to the 10th 20-point game of his rookie season.
Jordan Poole added 16 points, Lee 15 and Ky Bowman 11 for the Warriors, whose recent 3-point shooting woes continued. They went just 9-for-32. Green's ejection occurred following two separate disputes with referees in the second period. He moved into a tie with Houston's Russell Westbrook for the NBA lead with 14 technicals and became the first player in the league to be ejected three times this season.
