After the opening win in the NBA playoffs against the Golden State Warriors, Dennis Schröder praised the performance of his Los Angeles Lakers and emphasized the importance of success.
“Great win, everyone had a great game,” the captain of the German national basketball team told the German Press Agency one day after the 117:112. “Obviously they have a home advantage and they have the first two games at home. It’s very important that we won the first game.”
Schröder showed a very strong performance in defense against the team around Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson and contributed 19 points in offense. “There’s a lot of running around defensively against Steph Curry but you do everything to win and I’m ready,” he said. Schröder reported that the pain in the Achilles tendon has improved significantly. “Today was the first game since the Utah game that I was able to walk with two legs again. I hope it continues to be good.”
Davis with “Monster Double Double”
The dominant basketball player of the game was Schröder’s teammate Anthony Davis with 30 points and 23 rebounds. “AD had a monster double double,” said Schröder. “We put on a lot of pressure and we didn’t commit a foul in defence. We defended well and that was the key to success in the second half.”
The Lakers initially pulled away in the third quarter and temporarily extended their lead to 14 points in the last quarter before the Warriors equalized with a 14-0 run to 112:112. In the last 98 seconds of the game, however, only the Lakers scored, two converted free throws by Schröder to 117:112 sealed the important victory.
The Warriors are already under pressure before the second game in the best-of-seven series on Friday night. A team needs four wins to advance to the Western Conference Finals. “These are the playoffs. We won the first game, but it’s about who gets four wins first,” emphasized Schröder. “So we have to think game by game and come out on Thursday and be ready. We know now because we beat them that they are beatable.”
