LOS ANGELES — The Lakers, like most Western Conference teams competing for a spot in the playoffs outside of the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, understand how precious each game in the final 1 1/2 weeks of the regular season are.

With seeds Nos. 3-8 separated by just 2 1/2 games entering Thursday, one poor stretch of play could be the difference between having homecourt advantage in the playoffs, making the playoffs outright or having to compete in the play-in tournament.

The Lakers, who entered Thursday’s home game against the Golden State Warriors at No. 3 in the West, played with the desperation and energy of a team looking to separate itself from the rest of the pack.

But their attention to detail wasn’t where it needed to be for the entire game, leading to the Lakers falling to the Warriors 123-116 at Crypto.com Arena.

The Lakers (46-30) fell back to No. 4 in the West after the loss, just one day after moving up to No. 3 after the Denver Nuggets’ loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night.

The Warriors (45-31), who are No. 5 in the West, are now just one game behind the Lakers.

LeBron James led the Lakers with 33 points, nine assists and five rebounds. Austin Reaves finished with 31 points, six assists and three rebounds. Rui Hachimura added 24 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Luka Doncic had an uncharacteristically poor shooting night in his 19-point performance, although he did get eight rebounds and seven assists. Doncic shot 6-of-17 from the field, including missing all six of his 3-point attempts. It was the first time since April 7, 2023 that Doncic finished a game without making a 3-pointer.

After trailing between by between 8 and 14 points for most of the second half, the Lakers cut their deficit to five when Reaves made a 3-pointer off an out-of-timeout play, with the Warriors leading 121-116 with 35 seconds left.

The Lakers forced the Warriors to turn the ball over after the ensuing inbounds pass, giving the them an opportunity to cut their deficit to a single possession.

But they gave the ball back to Golden State when Dorian Finney-Smith tried handing it to Doncic after an offensive rebound, with Jimmy Butler picking up the steal and Steph Curry making a pair of free throws to steal the win for the Warriors.

Curry led the Warriors with 37 points and six assists. Brandin Podziemski recorded 28 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

The Warriors scored 23 second-chance points off 14 offensive rebounds — many of which led to 3-pointers.