Larry Nance, Jr. Steals Spotlight As Lakers Achieve Miraculous Win Over Stephen Curry’s Warriors

Kobe Bryant’s sweet farewell has been tremendous. After the shocking blowout win over Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Lakers dominated by a score of 112-95. However, the highlight of the game fell on rookie, Larry Nance, Jr.

With an iconic NBA veteran for a father, Larry Nance, Jr. had someone to look up to. Though there were multiple times that his dunks were credited to his father, Larry Donnell Nance, Sr., who was also known for dunking, Nance, Jr. is making unique moves of his own.

In the Lakers-Warriors game, Larry Nance, Jr. was more than confident with his dunking skills as he tried to create a direct replica of his dad’s signature dunk. The Lakers were more than 19 points ahead and he headed out and faced the ring with the flawless Nance, Sr. copycat dunk.

The crowd was chreering for Larry Nance, Jr. as he was seen smirking, happy with the dunk he did.

As the game progressed, Larry Nance, Jr. got another chance to show off his mad dunking skills. During the fourth quarter, the Warriors were rallying at 81-97, when he was at the right corner of the ring to receive an alley-oop pass. Again, it was a slum dunk like no other.

Performing Like A Pro

It comes as a surprise that Larry Nance, Jr. has played on top of his game for this big match-up. Last week, it was just reported that Nance has been dealing with an ongoing knee issue, according to Lakers Nation.

With his current situation, head coach Bryon Scott said that they will be restricting his games and the minutes he will be participating in each game. Scott added that they will also prohibit Larry Nance, Jr. from playing back-to-backs “so that they can keep him fresh and not aggravate his knee injury.”

Even during the Friday match up with Atlanta Hawks, Larry Nance, Jr. played a great game.

“I feel great. I’ve been feeling great, and I know the decision to sit me out on back to backs is to keep me feeling great,” he said.

During the game, Nance, Jr. also made a couple of his signature dunks.

“It was one of the few times I’ve gotten to the post this year so I figured I might try to take advantage of it. Millsap was playing tight on me so I just ripped past him and knew I could get the step on him and had a free lane to the basket.”

Larry Nance, Jr. plans to rehab after the season is over.

The Lakers rookie forward got his knee injury after playing against the Utah Jazz on Jan. 16. Though he had sat out for quite some time, the NBA “reached out” to Nance, Jr. to ask him about participating in the Slam Dunk Contest, according to ESPN.

Though Nance, Jr. expressed his interest to join the contest, with the injury he didn’t want “to go against the training staff’s advice.”

“This year might not be in the cards, per [the training staff’s] request, but it’s still something I personally would love to do in the near future. Next year, if [the NBA] wanted me, I would love to.”

His father was more than happy to help his son out if ever he is ready to join the Slam Dunk Contest.

“He can already do everything I did now,” Larry Nance, Sr. said with a laugh. “I don’t know what kind of old man stuff I can help him with. If he ever gets invited to be in the slam dunk contest, I’m sure I’ll spend some nights awake trying to come up with some stuff.

Lakers had a dominating 112-95 win over the history-chasing Warriors.

[Image Credit: Christian Petersen/Getty Images]