The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors 124-111 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday, securing their second straight win.

The competition was long gone early in the fourth quarter as the purple and gold extended their lead to over 20 points two minutes into this period. Pocketing the 28th win of the season is good news to the team, but, more importantly, they did it while LeBron James missed 15 of his 20 field goals (FGs) to get only 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

Even though he turned 38 years old in late December 2022, James has averaged 30 points this season, matching the third-highest of his career, while having 8.4 rebounds and seven assists. Such overreliance of the Lakers on him meant James had to nearly give everything he had in every appearance for the team to win.

James didn't have to do that on Thursday night. Malik Beasley drained seven triples to score court-high 25 points for the Lakers. Austin Reaves made all six of his shots to get 17 points and four assists. He had 13 points and three assists in the third quarter alone, making key contributions to the team's 36-24 run in this period. Antony Davis only shot five FGs (and made three) to get a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds, but his defensive presence limited the opponents under 50 percent (23-for-47) from the field in the paint.

The Warriors started with a mini squad in which the biggest one is 2.01-meter-tall Jonathan Kuminga. By contrast, the Lakers had James (2.06 meters tall), Jarred Vanderbilt (2.06 meters tall) and Davis (2.08 meters tall) who are much bigger and more athletic in their starting lineup.

The Warriors were not only small, but wretchedly lacking spacing as both Kuminga and Draymond Green were often left open at the 3-point line. The whole team went 14-for-49 from downtown, basically encouraging the Lakers to close in harder and harder on the defensive end.

In order to make up for the above disadvantages, the Warriors tried to drive up the pace in Thursday's game. However, they were beaten by the Lakers on this front as well, not only because the purple and gold could match the Warriors in speed, but also because their big men's rebounding efforts made it difficult for the Warriors to launch fast break in the first place.

When the Warriors had to struggle in half-court offense in most of their possessions, it's not surprising that they shot below 40 percent from the field. The lack of spacing and the ability to change defense with individual attack made the Warriors do too many pointless passes before taking a tough jumper that missed, or posted up a Warrior for a block by Davis.

Jordan Poole and Klay Thompson in the starting squad combined to shoot 11-for-32 in FGs, including 6-for-18 behind the arc, to get only 38 points. The team's biggest highlights came off the bench as Kevon Looney contributed a double-double of 10 points and 15 rebounds, including game-high seven on the offense glass. Ty Jerome had 20 points and three assists.

Other games on Thursday (away teams come first):

Denver Nuggets 115-109 Cleveland Cavaliers

Nikola Jokic had his 22nd triple-double of the season after dropping 24 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists for the Nuggets at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, on Thursday. The Cavaliers' Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, who are likely the league's best big man pair for the defensive sake, can't stop Jokic from dominating the floor.

The Cavaliers lost Thursday's home game after the poor-performing fourth quarter during which they missed 13 of their 19 FG attempts while committing five turnovers. Mobley scored 31 points the first three periods and then became a dud in the fourth one. Neither did Allen contribute much in this quarter.

Boston Celtics 142-138 Indiana Pacers

Jayson Tatum came very close to costing the Celtics a game that they should have one at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Thursday. He shot 5-for-16 in the first three quarters, but bounced back in the fourth period and overtime to score 16 of his 31 points for the team to secure a close win. Jaylen Brown contributed a double-double of 30 points and 11 rebounds for the team.

The Pacers failed to secure a win on Myles Turner's career night when he made 13 of his 15 attempts to get 40 points and 10 rebounds. He went 8-for-10 at the 3-point line and 5-for-5 in the paint. Tyrese Haliburton had a double-double of 22 point sand 14 assists for the team.

Memphis Grizzlies 105-110 Philadelphia 76ers

It took the 76ers three quarters to realize that Joel Embiid was not in the right form to lead them to victory at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Thursday night. The fourth period then became the solo stage for James Harden, who made four of his five shots to get 13 points and five assists for the team, leading them to their fifth consecutive win.

The Grizzlies All-Star duo, Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., combined to go as poorly as 8-for-32 from the field to score only 33 points. Demond Bane had team-high 25 points, but he missed eight of his 12 triples. Nonetheless, his 3-point shooting performance was still better than the rest of the team, who shot 3-for-19 from the outside.

Detroit Pistons 106-108 Orlando Magic

New Orleans Pelicans 110-115 Toronto Raptors

San Antonio Spurs 116-142 Dallas Mavericks

Oklahoma City Thunder 119-120 Utah Jazz

Portland Trail Blazers 116-133 Sacramento Kings