The Golden State Warriors fell to the Los Angeles Lakers 124-111 on Thursday night. Lopsided as that score is, the game wasn't even quite that close, either. Steve Kerr pulled most of his available regulars for good early in the fourth quarter, letting Moses Moody and Patrick Baldwin Jr. get run in extended garbage time.

While the Warriors' loss is hardly surprising considering they were missing both Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins, how it played out was still frustrating for a team—like the Lakers, mind way—that needs absolutely every win it can get during the regular season's stretch run.

Golden State led early, its makeshift starting five playing with competitive fire Los Angeles failed to match. A sudden scoring outburst by Jordan Poole got his team back in the game just before halftime, cutting the Lakers' lead to three at intermission. The Warriors even answered the Lakers' early third quarter run, pulling within seven points as Kevon Looney owned the offensive glass after they fell behind by 16.

But Los Angeles answered back every time Golden State threatened, overwhelming the defending champions not only with talent, size and depth, but intensity the Warriors only managed in spurts.

“I liked our energy early and then we got a little demoralized a couple of times in the game when things didn't go out way, and I didn't think we were poised enough on key stretches and we let things slip from us,” Kerr said on the postgame podium.

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The Warriors shot 38.1% overall and 28.6% from deep, their half-court offense neutered by the Lakers daring non-shooters to launch from the perimeter. The home team won the fast-break battle 29-8, Golden State routinely struggling to match up in transition. Too many of Los Angeles' 16 triples were open, including several from sharpshooter Malik Beasley, the game's high scorer with 25 points.

Maybe Golden State wouldn't have won if it played with the sense of urgency accompanying late-season stakes of a packed Western Conference playoff race. Curry and Wiggins are Warriors bellwethers, especially against the Lakers.

Moral victories don't exist for the Dubs, but even gleaning that type of hopeful optimism from Thursday's game could've been useful. Instead, Golden State doesn't have much to do but hope it comes to play from opening tip to the final buzzer on Friday against the Houston Rockets.

“We lost that energy,” Kerr said. “We've got to find it quickly.”