Los Angeles Lakers basketball is officially back as they traveled to take on the Golden State Warriors in the preseason opener on Saturday night.
Both teams featured some new faces, although the main guys that played didn’t play regular season minutes. The Lakers came out of this one leaving much to be desired, however, losing to the Warriors 125-108.
The Lakers were without two key starters in LeBron James and Austin Reaves, which forced Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent into the starting lineup alongside Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell and Gabe Vincent. Meanwhile, the Warriors debuted their new-look lineup with Chris Paul alongside Stephen Curry in the backcourt with Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney in the frontcourt as Draymond Green recovers from an ankle injury.
As he did against the Warriors in the playoffs last year, Davis got off to a quick start for L.A. on both sides of the floor due to Golden State’s lack of size. Klay Thompson also got hot early to lead the Warriors to a 29-23 advantage at the end of one quarter.
Given the Lakers were missing two starters, their short-handed second unit predictably struggled to begin the second quarter. Despite back-to-back 3-pointers from Davis, the Warriors built their lead to double digits for the first time and stretch it to 50-32 with the Lakers going cold from the field. Davis and Russell combined for 26 of L.A.’s first 32 points.
The Lakers started to chip away at that deficit after a timeout with Russell finding Jaxson Hayes for an alley-oop and then Vanderbilt for a triple. Vanderbilt hit another 3 to get it back to single digits, and then Russell got in on the action to cut the Lakers’ deficit to 61-54 at the half.
Darvin Ham decided to sit both Davis and Russell for the second half after their exceptional first halves, so Christian Wood and Max Christie started the third quarter in their place. The Warriors also sat their starters for the second half, giving some of the other guys on both teams an opportunity at significant minutes.
Hachimura, Vincent and Christie made the most of that time for L.A., each connecting from deep, although the Warriors stayed hot from beyond the arc as well. Christie flashed his potential with some nice two-way play in the third quarter, although the Lakers got sloppy and went into the fourth quarter trailing 95-83.
The one thing you want to avoid at all costs in the preseason is injuries, but unfortunately Cam Reddish went down with an ankle issue early in the fourth quarter, ending his night.
With so many guys sitting out, Reddish getting injured and Taurean Prince fouling out, the Lakers’ young guys like Christie, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Maxwell Lewis, Colin Castleton and D’Moi Hodge got some run to close out the game. They predictably looking overmatched as the Warriors stretched their lead to close out an easy victory.
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