The Los Angeles Lakers traveled up to San Jose to finish off the preseason by taking on the defending champion Golden State Warriors.
With the 2018-19 NBA regular season less than a week away, Lakers head coach Luke Walton opted to rest LeBron James, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Rajon Rondo, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram, and Alex Caruso. The Warriors decided to roll with most of their stars, with only Kevin Durant getting the night off.
The depleted Lakers started Lonzo Ball, Lance Stephenson, Kyle Kuzma, Michael Beasley, and JaVale McGee. Not surprisingly, the nearly full-strength Warriors got off to a fast start, but the Lakers still showed some flashes on the offensive end. Ball splashed home a three on his first shot, a welcome sight for Lakers fans.
Despite the Lakers going to their third-string reserves (primarily South Bay Lakers players), the Warriors kept Stephen Curry in the game and he went bonkers for 16 points in the quarter.
While the Warriors continued to cruise in the second quarter, there were still some moments of strong play by the Lakers. Svi Mykhailiuk finally found his comfort zone and found the bottom of the net on a few picture-perfect jumpers and fellow second-round pick Isaac Bonga had success driving to the basket.
At halftime, the Lakers trailed 67-54, but the game was providing enough highlight moments to keep the San Jose crowd entertained.
Michael Beasley got into it with Draymond Green, jawing back and forth in a confrontation that ultimately resulted in Beasley’s ejection. Kyle Kuzma seemed to finally get going off a few cuts that opened up dunks. He hasn’t quite been himself during the preseason, so hopefully, this performance gives him some momentum to build off of.
Halfway through the third, Ball and Kuzma hit back-to-back threes to cut the Warriors lead to just one. With Golden State’s superstars off the floor, the Lakers were able to make up some ground and eventually take their first lead thanks to five straight points from Mykhailiuk to finish the third.
Lance Stephenson got tied up with Quinn Cook and appeared to flail an arm near Cook’s head, resulting in Stephenson being ejected. Meanwhile, the Lakers players who were still eligible to play continued to take it to the Warriors. Travis Wear knocked down a few big threes while Mykhailiuk made smart reads, pushing the Lakers lead to 13 with three minutes to play.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Lakers won 119-110. Mykhailiuk led the way with 22 points and four assists while McGee chipped in 14 points of his own. Ball stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, six rebounds, and seven assists and Jonathan Williams pulled down a team-high 12 boards.
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