Lakers get blown out on opening night against Golden State

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The head coach might be different, and the personnel had a massive overhaul. Still, the results were the same for the purple and gold as they lost to the Warriors again on national television 123-109 on opening night, unable to spoil their ring night as Anthony Davis wanted.

After much debate and discussion over Russ and whether he should start or come off the bench, he earned the starting spot, at least for opening night. Darvin Ham rolled out a lineup of Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Patrick Beverley, Lonnie Walker IV, and Russell Westbrook. They started with a lot of looks for Anthony Davis, and the result was an aggressive AD with 10 points in 9 minutes of play. Despite Davis being himself again, the rest of the Lakers brought their preseason shooting to game one, shooting 29% from the field in the first. Despite the shooting woes, the Lakers were only down three after the first.

In the second quarter, the Warriors' depth and brilliance began showing. Ham called multiple timeouts trying to slow down the Warriors’ potent offense to no avail. The Warriors bench mob began to overwhelm the Lakers, with Poole scoring 10, Moody contributing 5, and Wiseman grabbing 4 rebounds. The Lakers shooting woes continued, as they went 2-for-20 from deep in the first half.

Despite the struggles putting the ball in the basket, the Lakers were only down seven entering the second half. Then the Warriors happened. Curry started heating up from three, Andrew Wiggins forced multiple turnovers, and four Warriors were in double digits. The Warriors led by as many as 27 and put the Lakers away for good midway through the third.

The fourth was essentially garbage time for the Lakers, so not much one can learn from that quarter. They are now 0-1 and lost because they played the defending champs, who have built a winning culture and a consistent way to play the game over the last eight years under Steve Kerr. The Lakers are anything but consistent. They have two key stars, but everything else is new or a mess. So was this game an indicator of what Laker Nation is in store for the rest of the season or just a bad game against a good team? We’ll begin to find out on Thursday when the Lakers play the Clippers on TNT at 7 pm and try to avoid going 0-2 again like they did last season.

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