Klay has 36, Steph sits late as Warriors beat Lakers 109-88

Rookie forward Larry Nance Jr. had a season-high 14 rebounds and eight points for the Lakers on his 23rd birthday while playing on a tender right ankle.

The Warriors coasted to their 33rd win in 35 games, best in the National Basketball Association. The reigning MVP missed two games with a bruised lower left leg last week before returning for Golden State’s last two games.

“It’s a magnet”, Curry said of his shin. “Long term, it’s not something that I’ll have to worry about”.

If the Warriors were worn out playing on the second night of a back-to-back, you couldn’t tell by the way Klay Thompson and Brandon Rush started the game. “We didn’t come out in the fourth quarter with the same aggressiveness and intensity that we had for the first three quarters and that’s why I yanked those guys back out and put the starters back in”. Lakers SF Kobe Bryant (shoulder) and PG D’Angelo Russell (sore throat) are questionable for Tuesday’s game.3.

The Warriors continued their recent mastery of the once-powerful Lakers, running away with a 109-88 triumph Tuesday night at Staples Center. Klay Thompson, who had 36 points, knocked down a three-pointer to cap the run and give the Warriors an 88-55 lead with 2 ½ minutes left in the third.

The Warriors (33-2) over the past two-plus seasons have won eight of the last 10 meetings against the Lakers – after going 2-18 against them over the previous five seasons.

Still, the Lakers had plenty of highlights, none bigger than 6-foot-5 Jordan Clarkson dunking over 7-1 Phoenix center Alex Len.

This season notwithstanding, Bryant has averaged 25.2 points, 4.8 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game in his 19 National Basketball Association seasons.

“They’ve got a bunch of intelligent players, and the league right now as a whole is not a very intelligent league”, Metta World Peace said. Randle did, however, contribute by pulling down a team-high nine rebounds with four assists to go with them.

Not only do the Suns have a nine-game losing streak, but they set a franchise record for fewest points in a half with the 22 they scored in the first 24 minutes. Bryant wanted to play but his shoulder was bothering him, so the team chose to hold him out for at least one more game and he remains day-to-day.

As the Kobe Bryant farewell tour continues to roll into 2016, when it comes to the greatest Laker of all time, most National Basketball Association insiders believe it’s Magic. Green was attempting to become the second player in 27 years to post four in a row.

Green, for example, will try for an unprecedented fourth consecutive triple-double for the Warriors, while the Lakers will look to remain competitive.

Warriors: Golden State is staying in a luxury coastal resort in Southern California before flying north to visit the Trail Blazers on Friday.

“It’s weird because it’s the same edge and killer instinct in him”, Warriors interim coach Luke Walton, who won two titles with Bryant, said. The Lakers were bailed out with 13 free throws in the first quarter, and still managed to fall behind by 12 points.