Melton and Niang Built Golden State’s Rescue Before Curry’s Headline

The Warriors were down 40-15, and the evening at Chase Center had the shape of a very expensive basketball headache. Then De’Anthony Melton and Georges Niang began making the deficit negotiable.

Melton scored seven straight Golden State points, Niang kept a possession alive and then hit a three, and the Warriors reached halftime tied 53-53. Stephen Curry finished with 31 points in Golden State’s 112-95 victory over the Lakers, but the comeback was already real before the familiar headline took over.

The Bay Area team did not simply wait for its best-known shooter to solve the problem; two supporting players supplied the first bridge back from a 25-point hole.

The first change began with a missed shot. Melton missed a driving layup with 11:15 left in the second quarter. Niang grabbed the offensive rebound, giving Golden State another possession instead of surrendering the ball to Los Angeles. Melton followed with a floating jumper at 11:13.

After Collin Sexton missed a driving floating shot, Niang secured the defensive rebound. Melton then made a three-pointer at 10:58 and converted two free throws after Jake LaRavia was called for a shooting foul at 10:33. Those were seven consecutive Golden State points, all from Melton, but the sequence was held together by Niang’s work on both ends of the floor.

Niang’s louder contribution arrived at 10:11, when he made a three-pointer to cut the Lakers’ lead to 15. He finished with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting, made all three of his threes and collected five rebounds in 19 minutes. The numbers are useful, but the timing tells more.

His offensive rebound came before Melton’s first basket, and his three came moments after Melton’s seven-point burst. Golden State’s recovery began with extra possessions and efficient shots from players who were not carrying the promotional burden of the night.

The Lakers did not fold neatly. Walker Kessler’s alley-oop dunk pushed their lead back to 14, and Kessler later blocked Niang’s layup. Kessler finished with 13 rebounds and five blocks, giving Los Angeles a serious interior presence even as the margin shrank.

Niang answered one of those physical exchanges at 8:27, blocking Sexton’s tip attempt after Sexton had grabbed an offensive rebound. One block does not establish control of the whole defense, but it prevented that second-chance opportunity from extending the Lakers’ response.

Melton’s influence reached beyond the seven-point burst. He finished with 16 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals, shooting 4 of 6 from three-point range. At 7:22 of the quarter, he collected a defensive rebound after Charles Bassey blocked Kessler’s dunk, ending another Lakers possession.

Melton also lost the ball at 7:40, so this was not a flawless performance polished by the final score. It was more valuable than that: when Golden State needed the game to stop accelerating away, he produced points, secured possessions and applied pressure without requiring every trip to run through Curry.

Curry still supplied the familiar electricity. He made a three at 9:32 of the quarter, another at 3:21 and drove for a basket with 2:53 left. His 8-of-14 shooting from beyond the arc became a major reason Golden State eventually pulled clear.

But his role in the halftime tie was part of a larger effort. With 6.4 seconds before the break, Brandin Podziemski made a three assisted by Curry to make it 53-53. That basket completed the climb; it did not begin it.

Golden State led 85-80 after three quarters, then won the fourth 27-15. The Warriors finished 22 of 46 from three-point range, while the Lakers went 11 of 39, and Golden State turned a tied halftime into a 17-point victory. Those shooting numbers explain how the game ended. They should not obscure how it became competitive again.

Melton reached 16 points and Niang 11 without becoming the leading names on the night. Their early work changed what Curry and Podziemski had left to do. Golden State could approach halftime with a tie available because Melton’s scoring and Niang’s rebounds had helped turn 40-15 into a basketball game again.

Sources

NBA: official final box score

ESPN: game record and event timing