‘They drive you crazy:’ LeBron James compares Warriors to Road Runner after Lakers win

LeBron James went Looney Tunes Tuesday night after the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.

“That team plays like Road Runner, so we’ve got to get rest,” James said of the Warriors during an interview with Spectrum network after the Lakers beat Golden State 117-112 at Chase Center in San Francisco.

Thought the Lakers had a victory in the bag when they went up 14 points with less than six minutes to play?

Beep-beep.

Back came the peripatetic Warriors, blitzing the Lakers with a 14-0 run fueled by Steph Curry and the team’s other sharp shooters.

“They drive you crazy,” James told Spectrum, and of the Warriors he also said, “You got to hold your composure with this team.”

So far, so good.

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Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (6) grabs a rebound in front of Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins (22) in the fourth quarter at the Chase Center.

After a Curry 3-pointer tied the game at 112-112 with 1:38 left to play, Anthony Davis blocked Curry’s next shot and the Lakers closed out the game with a 5-0 spurt.

The Road Runner had been vanquished. At least for the night.

“Everybody that gave us minutes tonight was great, but we need to be greater,” James said. “We need to be greater for Game 2.”

Anthony Davis joins illustrious Lakers list

Anthony Davis joined an illustrious list of Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday night when he had 30 points and 23 rebounds.

He became the first Laker to record a 30-20 in a playoff game since Shaquille O’Neal did it in 2004. The only other Lakers to score at least 30 points and grab at least 20 rebounds in a game are Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Davis, who shot 11-from-19 from the floor, credited his teammates.

“The guys gave the ball to me in the right spots,” he said. “A lot of it came out of pick and roll, post-ups, some offensive rebounds.”

Davis, the 6-foot-10 big man who wears jersey No. 3, conducted his postgame press conference alongside LeBron James after the Lakers won Game 1 of the best-of-7 playoff series.

Story continues

“I mean, the Lakers franchise over the years, over the course of their existence, has always had dominant big men, dominant guys that have been a force at the rim,” James said. “That’s why their jerseys are in the rafters. AD will be up there when he’s done playing. The No. 3 will be up in the rafters.”

‘Huge disparity’ in free throws

The Warriors voiced complaints about the officiating despite a massive discrepancy in free throw attempts.

The Lakers were 25-for-29 from the line. The Warriors were 5-for-6 from the line. This season, the Lakers rank No. 1 in free throws attempted per game (26.3) and the Warriors rank last (20.4).

(The Lakers muscle in for shots near the basket far more than the Warriors do.)

“So not a surprise but that is a huge disparity and we need to bring that down,” Kerr said.

What was a surprise is this: Dennis Schroder, the Lakers’ backup point guard, was 9-for-10 from the free throw line.

He attempted more free throws than anyone else.

“Like, that can’t happen; whether we think it’s a foul or not, we can’t put ourselves in that situation,” Curry said. “That’s how he makes an impact because he’s super quick in his first step and we have a certain strategy around him but you can’t let him get to the line ten times. That’s a killer.”

Quotes and notes

∎ The demolition car named Draymond Green said the Warriors will take a different approach when they played the Lakers Thursday in Game 2.

“…it starts with our aggression,” said the Warriors forward, who when asked what he will change, said, “My aggressiveness on both ends of the floor.”

∎ Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt drew praise for his defense on Steph Curry, who scored a team-high 27 points but shot 10-for-24 from the floor and had five turnovers.

∎ Warriors forward Kevon Looney couldn’t do much to slow Davis, but he did grab 23 rebounds. “Kevon has been an anchor for us, and he’s such a steady presence,” Warriors guard Klay Thompson said.

∎ Golden State attempted 53 3-pointers, exactly half of the shots it took from the field. “With Davis in the paint, you’re not going to get anything easy at the rim. So you still have to try to attack. You can’t just play around the three-point line the whole game. But a big part of our offense is trying to get the ball into the paint, move it out, and our guys did a pretty good job of that.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LeBron James compares Warriors to Road Runner after Lakers win Game 1