The Los Angeles Lakers were able to kick the 2019 NBA preseason off to a promising start with a 123-101 win on the road against the Golden State Warriors.
Although the Warriors were hoping to debut their new arena in style, it was the Lakers that quickly made themselves at home at the Chase Center with an 11-0 run.
Stephen Curry was finally able to end the drought with back-to-back buckets at the eight-minute mark to officially usher in a new era for them.
The Lakers had a clear size advantage on the inside and were able to take full advantage with 22 points in the paint between Anthony Davis, JaVale McGee, and LeBron James.
Davis continued to fully exploit the lack of resistance inside with three consecutive dunks to give the Lakers their largest lead of the game at that point.
Despite the Warriors’ attempts to chip into the deficit, the Lakers still managed to secure a 33-20 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Both teams opened up the second quarter trading punches on the offensive end of the floor, which made it difficult for Golden State to close the gap.
With Davis on the sideline, James switched gears as the central force for Los Angeles and followed through by scoring seven of their next nine points.
The Warriors slowly but surely found a way to cut into the lead thanks to the efforts of Jordan Poole, who managed to score eight points to slim the lead to five.
Head coach Frank Vogel also lost his first coach’s challenge of the new season after a personal foul called on McGee stood for free throws.
Fortunately, Los Angeles managed to end things on a high note by taking a 59-51 lead heading into halftime.
To no surprise, the Lakers opted to hold James and Davis out of the second half for rest.
With Curry and Draymond Green also sidelined for the rest of the game, it was the bench that was now trading punches for each team to start the second half.
Los Angeles was finally able to turn the tide in their favor on the back of Alex Caruso‘s 10 points and three assists.
Troy Daniels also made his presence felt by becoming the fourth Laker to reach double digits in scoring to help take a monster 20-point lead to end the third quarter.
Golden State suddenly managed to find their rhythm from deep after hitting three consecutive three-pointers from three different players to spur an 11-4 run.
Regardless, it would still not be enough as any attempts to further erase the deficit was halted by a solid overall team outing from the Lakers bench.