{"id":590244,"date":"2026-02-08T09:42:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T09:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/590244\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T09:42:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T09:42:36","slug":"moses-moody-shines-in-loss-to-lakers-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/590244\/","title":{"rendered":"Moses Moody shines in loss to Lakers \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a matchup the league could not have visualized when assembling this season\u2019s NBA schedule, the Warriors on Saturday went into Los Angeles without Stephen Curry<\/a> to play the Lakers without Luka Don\u010di\u0107.<\/p>\n

There is, however, LeBron James. He\u2019s still in LA, and his leadership and production combined to send Golden State to a 105-99 loss at\u00a0Crypto.com\u00a0Arena.<\/p>\n

Five Warriors scored in double figures, with Moses Moody ringing up a team-high 25 points. Gui Santos totaled 15, Brandin Podziemski and Pat Spencer<\/a> had 14 each, with Gary Payton II dropping 13.<\/p>\n

James, who turned 41 in December, was the catalyst as LA outscored Golden State 38-29 in the third quarter, with 12 points and three assists in eight minutes. He played a team-high 35 minutes, finishing with 20 points, a game-high 10 assists and seven rebounds.<\/p>\n

The Warriors (28-25) spent the fourth quarter playing from behind and never caught up.<\/p>\n

Curry sat out with a right knee soreness, and Don\u010di\u0107 is sidelined with a strained left hamstring.<\/p>\n

Here are three observations from Golden State\u2019s a final road game before the NBA All-Star break that begins Thursday:<\/p>\n

Another Plucky Fourth Quarter, But . . .<\/p>\n

The Warriors arrived in LA with fond memories of their previous game, a 101-97 victory<\/a> Thursday over the Suns in Phoenix in which they rallied late to overcome a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something most teams can muster a few times during the season.<\/p>\n

The Warriors tried it again two nights later, but couldn\u2019t complete the comeback.\u00a0They entered the fourth quarter trailing by eight (79-71) and fell behind by 10 inside the first minute. They pulled within one (87-86) on a 3-pointer by Santos with 7:27 remaining.<\/p>\n

The Lakers counted with a 13-2 run to go up 12 with 3:41 left to play and hung on down the stretch.<\/p>\n

The Warriors were unable to take full advantage of the seven turnovers they forced in the fourth, nor were they able to offset a 30-11 disparity in free throws.<\/p>\n

Bombs No-way<\/p>\n

From the opening tip, the Warriors were jacking up 3-pointers as if they were being paid per attempt. That\u2019s a reasonable approach against a Lakers defense that entered the game 23rd in opponents\u2019 shooting percentage from deep.<\/p>\n

To exploit that, however, the shots must go in at a relatively high rate.<\/p>\n

The Warriors in the first quarter took 25 shots, 17 of which were from distance. Two of them splashed. Despite putting up eight more shots than LA, Golden State managed to take only a 21-20 lead into the second quarter.<\/p>\n

Misguided kudos to the Warriors for perseverance. Of their 92 field-goal attempts, 51 were 3-pointers.
The Warriors finished 14-of-51 (27.5 percent) from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, they shot an acceptable 63.2 percent in the paint (24-of-38)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s tough to win while avoiding what\u2019s successful while staying stubborn with what\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

Moody Brought the Goods<\/p>\n

On a night when Golden State\u2019s offense sputtered more than shone, Moody did his best to keep it afloat.<\/p>\n

Moody accounted for five of the team\u2019s 3-pointers and his determination got him to the line for five of Golden State\u2019s 11 free throws.<\/p>\n

Moody\u2019s 25 points came on 8-of-17 shooting from the field, including 5 of 14 from beyond the arc. He was 4 of 5 from the line and added four rebounds, two assists, three steals and one block. He finished plus-5 over a team-high 39 minutes.<\/p>\n

Two nights after Moody\u2019s defense was crucial in victory, his offense was solid enough to keep the Warriors in the game throughout<\/p>\n

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a matchup the league could not have visualized when assembling this season\u2019s NBA schedule, the Warriors on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3786],"tags":[7,479,164,4025,4024,185,1104,6,255,1329],"class_list":{"0":"post-590244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golden-state-warriors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-golden-state","10":"tag-golden-state-warriors","11":"tag-goldenstate","12":"tag-goldenstatewarriors","13":"tag-lebron-james","14":"tag-moses-moody","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-warriors","17":"tag-warriors-observations"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116034361338603673","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}