Podcast: If Russell Westbrook is going to work, the Lakers have to make life easier on him

Despite leading for the majority of the game, albeit only slightly, the Lakers ultimately fell to the Warriors in their season opener, 121-114. Although it was just one game and the contest displayed the typical sloppiness that often comes with teams playing their inaugural minutes, it did also reveal some of the good and bad assumptions many had about the team heading into year.

In terms of positives, the Lakers’ star tandem of LeBron James and Anthony Davis combined for 67 points and 22 rebounds, and both looked sharp on the defensive end. Perhaps more importantly, they both looked spritely and healthy, which will go a long away in terms of the team’s chances.

Unfortunately for the team’s newly acquired third star Russell Westbrook, he had a rough team debut, scoring just 8 points and being a -23 in the boxscore. The rest of the roster did not fare much better, as no other player scored in double digits, and — mostly due to injuries — were also part of some questionable lineups.

But even though the game did not go the Lakers’ way, there were still takeaways the team should attempt to learn from here. Which brings us to today’s episode of Talk-O-Tuesday, in which our hosts Alex Padilla and Alex Regla recapped the Lakers’ season-opening loss, the bright spots from, the not-so-bright spots, and what could potentially be learned from game one.

You can listen to the full episode below, and to make sure you never miss a show, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

And for a short-form recap pod, check out Lakers Lowdown, in which Anthony Irwin recaps the previous day’s news and gets you ready for the day ahead in LakerLand, every weekday morning on the Silver Screen & Roll Podcast feed.