Golden State coach Steve Kerr sat in a back room in Los Angeles before playing the Lakers and said that the playoff race was “a sprint to the finish.” That was almost a year ago.

For Kerr’s Warriors and the Lakers, the chance of not having to play in the play-in tournament and the fear of falling out of the top 10 still existed back then, as it does now, as they play their first game after the All-Star break.

The Lakers are not five games below.500 at the break like they were that time last year, so things don’t feel quite as tense. Despite this, there will be a sprint, especially since both the Lakers and the Warriors are vying for the No. 6 place from the play-in picture’s back end.

And if this is going to be a race, the Lakers didn’t look good at all when they started. They had a hard time stopping Stephen Curry while playing the Warriors without LeBron James and lost 128–110.

James has missed his second straight game, though he did make a short appearance at the All-Star Game on Sunday. He is “day to day” after getting treatment for his ankle that was meant to keep him as healthy as possible as the Lakers try to make the playoffs.

The team also didn’t get Cam Reddish back because he is still getting better after hurting his knee. He worked with coaches on the court while the Lakers practiced on Thursday morning.

After the All-Star break, the Lakers also had a few players who were sick. Austin Reaves was getting better from an illness, and Anthony Davis lost his voice.

The Lakers didn’t put up much of a fight for long because they were short-handed and had to play smaller than they would have liked. Curry scored 25 points in the first half, rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis dominated his minutes against the Lakers’ second unit, and the Warriors closed the game better than the Lakers all game, scoring in the last 1.5 seconds of all three quarters.

The Lakers lost by 18 points at the three-point line, 21 points on the boards, and a lot of points from their bench.

Davis had 27 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers before they stopped playing in the middle of the fourth before their home game against San Antonio on Friday.