Los Angeles Lakers: Top 4 games from the 2018-19 season

4. Opening Night

Despite the fact that the Lakers lost this game, I still believe this was one of the best games of the season by far.

It was the beginning of the LeBron James era in Los Angeles. For Lakers fans, it was the perfect start to the era as LeBron James‘ first points as a Laker came on two back-to-back dunks early in the game. It capitalized off of the momentum of JaVale McGee‘s dunk on Jusuf Nurkic in the moments prior.

The game was also significant because it would provide the first look at how the young core would fare playing with LeBron.

Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma and Lonzo Ball scored a combined 38 points, but Josh Hart stood out as the 2nd leading scorer for the Lakers, tallying 20 points behind LeBron’s 26.

Unfortunately, the Lakers players were not the only players balling out. During the game, the Lakers’ defensive struggles helped Blazers guard Nik Stauskas play his way into a 24 point effort that included five 3-pointers.

What made the game significant was the fact that it was the first game. As a fan when you are watching the first game, you are at your highest level of confidence in terms of your belief that everything will go right for the team and that this is just the start to something special.

That is until you get 20 games in and realize that the team still has a lot of work to do to get where they need to be.

Nevertheless, fans thoroughly enjoyed the game. It was a close contest up until the very end and it provided a first look at the new-look Lakers and the beginning of a new era.