Lakers fall to the Warriors on Opening Night, despite huge outings from stars.
The Lakers were still unable to come up with a win in tonight’s season opener against the Warriors despite a combined 67 points from stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis. After a second-half surge from Golden State, the Lakers could not keep up in the second half, getting outscored by the Warriors 38–29 in the 4th quarter and 68–55 overall in the entire second half of tonight’s 121–114 loss.
On an off-shooting night, Warriors star Stephen Curry was able to still finish with a 21 point triple-double (first since 2016) in the win, shooting 24% on 5 for 21 (23.8%) overall from the floor. The Lakers were also outscored by the Warriors 46–34 from the bench, with multiple Warriors finishing with over 10 points.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis started tonight’s season opener hot right out of the gate, with both stars finishing with nearly 20 points each (AD-20, LBJ-18) in the first half.
In his 19th season opener, LeBron James finished with a game-high 34 points on 5 for 11 (45%) from the three-point arc and 13 for 23 (56%) overall from the field, adding 11 rebounds and 5 assists in the loss. James spoke on the performance of the Lakers in tonight’s season opener loss, not dwelling too much on the loss, explaining:
“It’s one game. We want to learn from it and get better.”
In 38 minutes, Anthony Davis looked like the top-five player he can be when healthy, ending the night second in scoring with 33 points on 15 for 26 (57.6%) shooting from the floor. Adding 11 rebounds and a pair of blocks and assists in his effort tonight. Davis showed just how dominant he can be on a nightly basis in tonight’s performance, as he looked the healthiest he’s ever looked in a Laker uniform, talking about his mentality tonight:
“Just want to be dominant every time I touch the floor.”
The Lakers added a lot of different players this offseason, and no one is going to be under the microscope as much as Russell Westbrook between all the Lakers' new additions. In tonight’s loss, Russell Westbrook struggled to find a rhythm shooting from the floor, finishing with 8 points on 0 for 4 shooting from three and 4 for 13 (30.7%) overall from the field.
Both LeBron James and Anthony Davis spoke on Westbrook’s performance tonight and how they’re going to work as a whole moving forward with Russ in this offense, with James saying:
“I just think it was first-game jitters. I don’t put too much into it. There was probably a lot going through his mind, being a kid from L.A. I’m not worried about Russ at all. He just needs to be himself.”
With Russell Westbrook, it’s going to take some time to fit in and get his rhythm down playing with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, with 81 games left, the Lakers have plenty of time to get their chemistry right to compete. Davis explained his thoughts on Westbrook’s night, saying:
“We just want him to be himself. Be Russell Westbrook.”
The next big acquisition that a lot of fans have looked forward to was the addition of future hall of fame Carmelo Anthony, who is teaming up with long-time friend LeBron James for the first time in their careers. Anthony was another new Laker who had an up and down shaky night in their purple and gold debut, finishing the night with 9 points and 4 rebounds on 3 of 9 (33%) shooting from the floor and 2 for 4 (50%) from the perimeter.
The Lakers will face a familiar foe this Friday against the reigning Western Conference champions Phoenix Suns in their second game of the season. Look for the Lakers to come out hot trying to bounce back from tonight’s loss and get their revenge against the team that knocked them out of the first round in last year's playoffs.