Before I get started, I know I gotta drop the health disclaimers
The Golden State Warriors walked into Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday without their starting small forward, their starting center, their starting shooting guard, and the backup behind him. Jimmy Butler is still rehabbing the ACL, Kristaps Porzingis is out with an injury that none of my buddies can explain, Brandin Podziemski’s back flared up, and Moses Moody is months away after patellar tendon repair. Steph Curry even played on a sprained right ankle.
But there was still plenty to glean from that opening game, and that 127-105 final provides some clues about what the Lakers are capable of. For most of the last decade, they were the franchise standing outside GSW’s party, pressing their face against the glass. Wednesday night felt like the first time they looked back through it at the Dubs, with a vengeance.
The big man Walker Kessler kicked in the door in his first game with the Lake Show, going 12-for-12 from the field for 26 points and nine rebounds in his Lakers debut. The only Laker with a cleaner night was Wilt Chamberlain going 14-for-14 in 1969. The highlight to take away from him last night was Luka lobbing it up and Kessler slamming it home with the Warriors spending the rest of the night watching the sequel and the director’s cut.
Every time a Lakers guard turned the corner, the Warriors had to choose between stopping the ball and staying home on the big man. With Porzingis in street clothes there was no seven-footer back there to make that choice easier. Too often they got caught in between, and Kessler spent the night catching lobs like Randy Moss.
Then there’s Luka Doncic giving Yaxel Lendeborg a taste of professional basketball, combining shotmaking and foulbaiting to a degree that drove the rookie mad. Luka finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, was a plus-31 in 29 minutes. When a star player gets to eat popcorn for the final minutes of opening night, you got whooped.
It’d be a shame not to mention the impact from Luka’s backcourt mate Austin Reaves, who put up 23 points and six assists and went 10-for-10 from the line on just 11 field goal attempts. That’s what happens when a defense gets stretched two ways at once. The Warriors were sending help at Luka, Kessler’s rolls dragged the back line into the paint, and Reaves kept attacking with somebody’s hip half a step late. Reaves is the reason you can’t load up on Luka, and Kessler is the reason you can’t load up on Reaves.
The Lakers shot 57% percent and held Golden State to 8-of-36 from three. Steph scored 23 on a bad ankle, but the Lakers’s double-digit margin ballooned after three quarters, and the rest was waste management time. This was a statement game from a reimagined Lakers squad built around that aforementioned Big 3. For most of the GSW dynasty, the Lakers were the team the Warriors used as target practice. And although L.A. won the 2020 bubble title, GSW’s 2022 ring made it feel like a footnote. Yes, LeBron and AD bounced Golden State in the 2023 second round, but Denver swept them right after, and that era never climbed back to the top.
Now LeBron is in Philadelphia, and what L.A. built in his place looks younger and meaner. Luka is 27, Reaves is in his prime, and Kessler is the anchor they never had around Luka. And they’re rising right as Steph and Draymond stare at the back nine of their careers. Round two comes October 30 in an NBA Cup game, and I already know Lendeborg has that date circled. I just hope Steve Kerr has somebody circling Walker Kessler.
