The Los Angeles Lakers continued preseason play on Friday night, hosting the Golden State Warriors in their first game of the new season at Crypto.com Arena. While the Lakers wound up losing to the Warriors for the second time this preseason, 129-125, the regulars played really well and were ahead comfortably when they went to the bench for the final time in the third quarter.
L.A. had a majority of its key players for the second time this preseason with D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, Taurean Prince, LeBron James and Anthony Davis getting the start and all finishing in double figures.
Darvin Ham has yet to name who the official fifth starter is, although he again reiterated after the game that he would like to have a set starting lineup, health permitting. Prince is sure looking the part of that fifth starter as he led the team with 17 points and two steals on 5-of-6 shooting (4-of-5 from 3-point range) in 20 minutes.
Prince’s shooting from deep can prove to be very valuable alongside the Lakers’ starters, although he wasn’t the only one knocking them down as the team shot 16-of-36 (44.4%) from 3 on the night to continue their hot shooting start to the preseason.
Reaves also had an exceptional game with 16 points (6-of-9 from the field) to go along with three rebounds, three assists and two steals in 24 minutes.
James and Davis played limited minutes but still looked like they were in midseason form. James had 12 points, two rebounds and five assists in a half of play while Davis played into the third quarter for the first time this preseason and finished with 13 points, six rebounds, four assists and a steal.
Russell continued his outstanding two-way play so far this preseason with 12 points, four rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block, earning his game-high +14 mark along with Davis.
To their credit, the Warriors shot the ball well too with of course Stephen Curry leading their starting group with 18 points, three rebounds and four assists. Their bench unit did a nice job coming back in the fourth quarter to earn the win with Jonathan Kuminga finishing with 26 points and Moses Moody chipping in 15.
Perhaps most impressive was their rookie first-round pick Brandin Podziemski, who controlled the fourth quarter and had a near-triple double with 10 points, six rebounds and 10 assists in 26 minutes.
Up next for the Lakers…
The Lakers have two more contests to finish out the preseason, first on Sunday against the Milwaukee Bucks, which is expected to be the debut of the new All-Star duo of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, and then on Thursday against the Phoenix Suns in Palm Springs. That will mark the first time Frank Vogel coaches against his former team as the new head coach of the Suns.
L.A. then opens its regular season on Tuesday, Oct. 24 against the Denver Nuggets when the defending champs will get their rings before a Western Conference Finals rematch.
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