The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors 127-97 in Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on Saturday, leading the series again 2-1.

The Warriors continued to start a small squad in which JaMychal Green replaced Kevon Looney for better spacing, like they did in Game 2. Though Green missed all three of his triples, the team counted on Klay Thompson to shoot 3-for-5 from downtown in the first quarter, leading 30-23. After Moses Moody made the Warriors' seventh 3-pointer at 7:53 in the second period, their lead grew to 11 points (40-29), the biggest on Saturday night.

That's when the Lakers changed their defensive policy from having Anthony Davis drop deep to allowing him to close out. When Davis, the most dominant rim protector in this year's playoffs, stayed back, he could limit the opponents' field goal (FG) rate in the paint to a very percent. However, even with his mobility, Davis couldn't come out from deep down in time to deflect the Warriors' shooting, especially when it happened in high post via screen. That's how the purple and gold lost Game 2 and trailed by double digits early in Game 3.

As Davis began to close out in guarding screens, his size and quickness immediately increased the risk and difficulty dramatically for the Warriors to shoot from the outside, charge the rim and move the ball. Davis had four blocks and three steals while breaking the opponents' offensive rhythm. He didn't have to worry about the roller behind him because neither Draymond Green nor JaMychal Green was able to finish efficiently in the paint. The two combined to go as poorly as 2-for-9 from the field.

Davis bounced back offensively as well from his poor form in the lost Game 2. He made seven of his 10 shots to drop a double-double of 25 points and 13 rebounds while going to the free throw line 12 times and draining 11 shots there. His offensive aggressiveness threw Draymond Green into foul trouble early in the game, which rubbed salt into the Warriors' wound.

LeBron James made key contributions to the Lakers' big win on Saturday, but in a different way from Davis. Like we mentioned previously, he no longer has enough stamina to cover both ends of the game with intensity for all four quarters. Since D'Angelo Russell heated up behind the arc quickly in Saturday's game, James left the stage for him to shoot 5-for-7 to get 13 points in the first quarter.

James didn't shoot his first FG until 8:02 in the second quarter. Mark Jackson and Stan Van Gundy, who commentated Saturday's game on ABC, said this is "inexcusable," that James must be the "initiator" of the team's offense. In fact, that's what James did to help the Lakers rally a 30-8 run in the second quarter. He only took 11 shots in total, fewer than Russell did, but James posted up deeper than he did previously in this series, either feeding to teammates for backdoor cut-ins, or dishing out to open shooters after drawing double-teaming.

The Lakers went 42-for-80, 15-for-31 and 28-for-37 from the field, from downtown and at the free throw line respectively on Saturday night, turning the game into a long-gone conclusion before the fourth quarter.

The Warriors were caught unprepared by the opponents' change of defensive policy. Nor did they make effective response. As a result, the team committed as many as 19 turnovers, 17 of which took place in the first three quarters, allowing 27 easy turnover points by the opponents.

Stephen Curry, who delivered 12 assists for the Warriors to secure a big win in Game 2, was made to launch more individual attacks instead of getting more teammates involved in offense in Saturday's game. Nonetheless, though the Lakers didn't double-team as often as they did previously, they still made Curry struggle to get every of his 23 points. Austin Reaves began to mark him from the third quarter while Jarred Vanderbilt took Draymond Green. Every time the two had a screen play, Curry not only had to face the bigger and no slower Vanderbilt, he must also watch out for Davis who could appear to help on the blink of an eye.

Game 4 will happen at Crypto.com Arena on May 8.

Jimmy Butler returns to take Heat to victory again

The Miami Heat defeated the New York Knicks 105-86 in Game 3 of the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, on Saturday, leading 2-1 in the series.

Jimmy Butler came back from the ankle injury that cost him the lost Game 2 and scored a court-high 28 points for the Heat. He shot 7-for-14 from the field in the first half and constantly went to the free throw line in the third quarter to maintain his offensive contributions. His aggressiveness was shared by the Heat overall which led 31-22 in free throw attempts and 28-16 in free throw makes over the Knicks.

The Knicks shot 34.1 percent from the field in Saturday's game. Mitchell Robinson, who made one of his two FG attempts, was the only one reaching 50 percent in FG rate. Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, RJ Barrett and Julius Randle went 21-for-63 collectively. Randle even had more turnovers (4) than assists (2).

The Knicks need to find a way to crack the Heat's flexible zone defense open or they will have little chance of reversing the situation in Game 4 that will take place at the Kaseya Center on May 8.