It wasn’t the Opening Night the Los Angeles Lakers envisioned as they lost to the Golden State Warriors 123-109.
Anthony Davis got the scoring started for the Lakers with an aggressive drive over Kevon Looney, but the latter responded with an and-one on the other end to give the Warriors an early 5-2 lead. Golden State looked like they were going to seize momentum, but Los Angeles did well to answer and hang around early.
Davis then began to take over on both ends, scoring near the rim and causing turnovers to tie the game up at 22 apiece. Jordan Poole was able to get loose and keep the Warriors afloat, leaving the Lakers down 25-22 after the first quarter.
LeBron James took the offense into his own hands with a couple of aggressive drives to open the second quarter, but the Golden State bench roared back to up their lead to eight. Davis came back in and finished a nice dish from James in transition, but the Warriors once again answered to maintain their advantage.
Los Angeles fell behind by double digits after Stephen Curry got loose for a pair of backdoor cuts and it only got worse as Golden State continued to heat up from the field. Fortunately, the Lakers were able to go on a mini run at the end of the period and they went into halftime trailing 59-52 despite shooting an abysmal 3-for-21 from 3-point range.
Kendrick Nunn and James were able to end some of the outside shooting woes for the Lakers, but Klay Thompson scored a quick seven points to ensure the Warriors stayed in front. Golden State then went on the third quarter run they’ve become known for and soon ballooned their lead to 20.
Things snowballed from there as the Lakers committed a gaggle of turnovers and couldn’t hit anything from the field. James tried to will his team by taking over the offense but L.A. went into the fourth down 91-7 1.
Los Angeles managed to recoup some momentum as they earned several stops in a row, and consecutive baskets from James capped off a 13-2 run. The Lakers did a good job of hanging around, though they were still down by 15 midway through the quarter.
Westbrook detonated in the lane with a massive dunk, but Curry completely took over to keep the Lakers at bay. With L.A. trailing big, Darvin Ham emptied his bench and the Lakers would start the season with a loss.
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