Golden State Warriors’ Andre Iguodala (top) goes up against Los Angeles Lakers’ Pau Gasol (left) in an NBA preseason game at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China. AP
SHANGHAI – Klay Thompson made 5 of 6 3-pointers and scored 25 points to help the Golden State Warriors rout the Los Angeles Lakers 115-89 in a pre-season game in Shanghai on Friday night.
David Lee added 16 points and Draymond Green had 14 points and six rebounds for the Warriors, who followed up their 100-95 win over the Lakers in Beijing on Tuesday with another victory.
”It’s always good to beat (the Lakers),” Thompson said. ”I’ve seen them rule the state of California for far too long so we want Golden State to be the team out West and it starts even tonight in the pre-season.”
Shanghai native Yao Ming, who watched the game courtside, got a huge cheer from the crowd before the game, but the loudest ovation went to the injured Kobe Bryant when he joined the Lakers bench in the fourth quarter.
Bryant is sitting out the start of the season as he recovers from a torn Achilles tendon. Pau Gasol was the only Lakers player in double digits, scoring 16 points.
”We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Gasol said. ”We’ve still got to make sure we work really hard these next 11 days before opening night so the team is really ready to go. We’ve got to be ready to go from the beginning.”
Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said, however, he wasn’t worried about his team’s performances in China this week.
”We’re pretty excited about what we can do. This is not normal. This is preseason and it doesn’t matter come January if you won four games or six games or one game,” D’Antoni said.
The Warriors opened up a close game with a 26-5 run late in the third quarter to take an 84-68 lead late in the period. Golden State got 13 points from Thompson during the run, including three 3-pointers in a 1 1/2-minute span.
”I got lucky tonight,” Thompson said. ”I got a lot of wide-open shots.”
The only slight concern for the team came three minutes into the game when Andrew Bogut left with back spasms after scoring a layup and didn’t return. The Australian center has battled injuries in recent years -only playing 32 regular-season games for the Warriors last year -but has been fit coming into this season.
”There’s no concern,” Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. ”He actually waved me off and wanted to stay in the ballgame, but we’ve got plenty of time to make sure he’s healthy and whole and that’s important closing out this preseason.”
The Shanghai game was the final edition of the NBA’s Global Games, part of the league’s efforts to expand its brand by playing preseason games in China, Brazil, Turkey, the Philippines, Taiwan, Spain and the United Kingdom.
This season, two regular-season games will be played outside the United States and Canada for the first time-in London and Mexico City.
Before the game, NBA Commissioner David Stern refused to speculate how long it would be until a regular season game would be played in China, passing the baton to his successor, Adam Silver, the deputy commissioner.
”I think the level of cooperation with the Shanghai sports bureau means we will continue to favor Shanghai with games in the future,” Stern said. ”Regular-season games are for Commissioner Silver and Mr. Li (Yuyi, the director of the Shanghai Sports Bureau) to decide.”