Lakers News: Reigning Champs Ride Explosive Third Quarter To Double-Digit W Over Lakers
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On the plus side, LeBron James and Anthony Davis looked excellent in L.A.’s season opener.
Miserable three-point shooting has always looked like it would be your Los Angeles Lakers’ Achilles heel this season, and that indeed proved to be the case tonight. Los Angeles fell to the Golden State Warriors in Chase Center, 123-109.
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Darvin Ham went with a fairly small starting line-up for his head coaching regular season debut. Although he came off the bench in the Lakers’ preseason finale (a blowout loss to the Golden State Warriors’ NorCal neighbors, the Sacramento Kings), Russell Westbrook started at the point. Ham started 6’1″ Patrick Beverley at shooting guard, 6’4″ Lonnie Walker at the three, LeBron James at power forward, and Anthony Davis at center.
The Warriors started the five players we last saw hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy in June: Finals MVP Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney.
Thompson, hoping to play his first full healthy season since 2018-19, was limited to 19:39 minutes tonight. In that time, he went 6-of-13 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line for 18 points.
In a very, very protracted ring ceremony, the Warriors celebrated their latest title with some excessive hardware but some considerate speeches. For Lakers fans, the highlight here would be new L.A. reserve forward Juan Toscano-Anderson collecting his championship ring, even though he was essentially squeezed out of the club’s postseason rotation:
Nobody shot particularly well in the first quarter, so the Lakers were able to keep things close for much of the frame. L.A. had a rough jump-shooting start to its night, but played solid defense to throw the Warriors out of rhythm.
Walker proved to be an eager defender, and although he struggled against Stephen Curry a bit, any mere mortal would, too:
The Lakers went on a 9-0 run (the Warriors had seven straight misses during this window) with LeBron resting. Anthony Davis initiated a lot of the action on both sides, surrounded by Westbrook, Nunn, Reaves, and Juan Toscano-Anderson. Watch him snag a deflection and promptly gather steam in a downhill sprint leading to an easy bucket.
In the frame, AD scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, pulled down two rebounds, dished out two assists, and grabbed a steal in just 9:18. Thanks mostly to Davis, L.A. outscored Golden State 14-2 in the paint for the frame.
Ham’s small-ball center experiment really, really didn’t hold up well when he played anyone not named Anthony Davis against 2020 No. 2 draft pick James Wiseman, who handily blocked 6’9″ Wenyen Gabriel (in for AD at the five) during the period’s closing moments, seemingly without jumping. Wiseman looked pretty great, after missing the team’s entire 2021-22 championship season with an injury. He exhibited great awareness around the paint, as with this block on James:
Maybe the kid’s not a bust after all. Gulp.
Golden State stunningly went scoreless for four minutes late in the period, but L.A. failed to capitalize properly. The Warriors still finished the period with the lead, 25-22, despite shooting just 28% from the field (not a typo). You could tell the Warriors were going to pounce soon enough.
The second quarter marked the moment when the game really got away from Los Angeles.
It’s a bit depressing when you need to write a sentence like “The Lakers really need Matt Ryan to space the floor, thank goodness Darvin Ham cooked up an after timeout play for him,” but here we are. L.A. had gone just 1-of-15 from beyond the arc before Ryan, signed off a training camp contract, nailed his first look from long range. Honestly, given the rest of this roster, L.A. may need to keep the 6’7″ swingman around.
Patrick Beverley got whistled for his third foul (while fighting with Jonathan Kuminga for a loose ball) with 5:43 left in the half, and promptly found himself benched for the rest of the half.
L.A. was promptly treated to a bit of the trick-or-treat dynamic that has defined its Russell Westbrook era. After scoring on consecutive Lakers possessions (a turnaround fadeaway bank shot and a layup), Westbrook needlessly fouled Warriors small forward Andrew Wiggins while out-of-bounds, and was whistled for a technical.
Who made the Lakers’ third three-pointer of the night (in 21 attempts)? Russell Westbrook, ladies and gentlemen. He actually had a pretty nice quarter, scoring nine points in the frame.
Here’s that Russ triple:
After the Warriors carved out a 14-point lead at one point, the Lakers went on a 6-0 run to chip away a bit at that advantage, thanks mostly to the efforts of one LeBron Raymone James Sr.
Golden State closed the half leading by just seven, 59-52.
Davis, James and Westbrook were the only Lakers in double figures at the break. Stephen Curry and Sixth Man of the Year favorite Jordan Poole led the way for Golden State, pouring in a combined 26 points.
Neither club shot particularly well from outside in the first half, with Golden State’s 25% mark pacing L.A.’s 14.3%.
At the top of the third quarter, Patrick Beverley lasted a mere 12 seconds before being whistled for his fourth foul, this time for daring to pester Klay Thompson. The refs’ quick foul calls limited Beverley’s efficacy in his regular season Lakers debut.
The Lakers’ weakness this season looks to be everyone not named LeBron James or Anthony Davis. To that end, non-LBJ/AD Lakers shot just 1-of-10 from the floor in the third period. But hey, at least James and Davis looked pretty good. Even at the start of his 20th NBA season, the Chosen One can still nail a good hammer dunk:
The “trick-or-treat” ratio started to tilt to “trick” for Russell Westbrook in the third frame. There were many, many lowlights in this decisive period, but our favorite here at All Lakers has to be this doozy of a three-point attempt:
After Westbrook, James, and Nunn coughed up the ball across three successive Lakers possessions, Darvin Ham was forced to use a timeout relatively early in the period. With 7:07 remaining for the quarter, L.A. had already been outscored 19-10 by the champs. Following the timeout, the Lakers responded by… failing to stick with Golden State in transition, and letting the team go on a quick 6-0 run.
Patrick Beverley may have been L.A.’s Least Valuable Player of the evening. In addition to the quick fouls, he struggled with his shot and even his dribble, especially in the third quarter, when he clumsily traveled multiple times (but was only caught once).
Stephen Curry was in his bag at this point of the night. In one of his coldest moments, he nailed back-to-back triples over poor Matt Ryan:
All told, the Warriors would outscore Los Angeles 91-71 in the third frame. The Lakers had seven turnovers in that period alone. L.A. went just 6-of-21 from the field. James had a 10-point third quarter, while Stephen Curry poured in 12.
In the fourth quarter, the Warriors let their feet off the gas a bit, giving Los Angeles just enough breathing room to cut the lead to something bordering respectability. L.A. went on a wild 27-12 run to shave down Golden State’s advantage to 12 with under five minutes to go, thanks to some aggressive defense and interior scoring from L.A., and some totally disengaged defense from the Warriors. The Lakers managed to hang around late, but some hot shooting from Andrew Wiggins helped Golden State preserve the double-digit edge.
Darvin Ham and Steve Kerr emptied their benches with 1:52 minutes remaining in the game. Lakers rookies Max Christie, Scotty Pippen Jr., and Cole Swider made their official NBA debuts.
James finished with a 31-point, 14-rebound double-double (he also had eight assists), while Davis scored 25 points on 10-of-22 shooting, plus six rebounds, four steals and two blocks. Westbrook had a double-double of his own, scoring 19 points (on 7-of-12 shooting) and pulling down 11 rebounds. He also of course contributed his signature knuckle-headed plays, as we mentioned. The trio combined for 77 points, while the other 10 L.A. players who saw the court scored just 32. Kendrick Nunn was the only other Laker in double digits, and the only non-LeBron Laker to make more than one three-point shot attempt (he nailed three). In his first regular season action since the 2020-21 season, Nunn scored 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting off the bench.
Stephen Curry had a game-high 33 points, going 4-of-13 from deep. Wiggins contributed 20, Thompson notched his 18 in under 20 minutes, and Poole scored 12.
The three-point shooting disparity proved to be the difference. Los Angeles did most of its damage in the post, which certainly is not sustainable over the course of a season. The team needs more jump shooters, and it needs them right now.