The Los Angeles Lakers pulled off arguably the biggest upset of the NBA season on Friday night as they dominated the Golden State Warriors, winning by 20 points. The Lakers started strong and never let up and their hunger stood out to Warriors All-Star forward Draymond Green.
After the game, Green was extremely complimentary of the Lakers, calling them young and hungry according to Ryan Ward of Lakers Nation:
Draymond Green on the Lakers: “That’s a young & hungry team with a new staff & their getting after it."
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) November 5, 2016
Even though the Lakers had been playing well this season, very few expected them to come out and play the way they did against the Warriors. Golden State is a title favorite and were coming off of their best showing of the season, a blowout win against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Perhaps that performance took a lot out of them and they didn’t have anything left for the Lakers, but the Warriors came out flat and it showed against the youth and energy of the Lakers.
Green was one of the few Warriors players to have a good showing in Friday’s game with 16 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and four steals. Meanwhile Julius Randle, who has drawn comparisons to Green, had his best game of the season with 20 points and 14 rebounds, causing head coach Luke Walton to call him ‘a monster.’
Things are obviously turning around for the Lakers as the young talent is developing quicker than most expected. Rookie Brandon Ingram even said that the win shows the Lakers can be contenders immediately.
Whether or not that turns out to be the case remains to be seen, but the Lakers have obviously caught the eye of Green.