The Los Angeles Lakers defenders spent Media Day, training camp, and preseason talking about how overlooked and underrated they felt. The first matchup of the season against the Golden State Warriors gave them a chance to prove that. After a rough start, they ultimately ended up delivering in a 127-105 blowout on Wednesday.
Preseason taught us the Lakers were trying to build a defensive identity on physicality and aggression. That would be the case for the perimeter guys, at least. That worked against Los Angeles early on as Stephen Curry and company exploited the openings created by that mindset.
Curry erupted for 16 points in a tight 34-33 first quarter that just barely favored the Lakers. Was this a sign of things to come? No. Los Angeles settled in nicely during the second and third quarters. They only surrendered 19 points in the second and then tightened up further to give up just 16 in the third.
That defensive success, coupled with a scorching-hot offense, pretty much had this game wrapped up by the time the fourth quarter started. By night's end, JJ Redick had to feel good about what his unit proved themselves capable of against a team featuring an all-time offensive engine.
Lakers defense faced early jitters before stabilizing against the Warriors
Despite the strong start, Curry only ended up tacking on seven more points to his tally to finish with 23 points in this one. The Lakers also managed to hold the legendary sharpshooter to just 2-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. It was an encouraging sight for one of the keys to this game.
On top of the modest success of slowing down Curry after a shaky start, the Lakers thrived in other important areas of this matchup.
They managed to keep the Warriors from beating them on the perimeter overall. Golden State only shot 8-of-36 from beyond the arc.
Unlike the preseason, the Lakers managed to win the points in the paint battle, too. Having Walker Kessler playing and dominant on both ends allowed them to end the night leading that department by 66-56. Forcing 16 turnovers was a good sign too, even if they gave up 18 of their own.
In the second quarter, the Lakers held the Warriors to just 29.2 percent from the field. In the third, Golden State shot an equally unimpressive 29.4 percent. When it mattered most, Los Angeles clamped up.
The Warriors are not going to be world-beaters this season. The Lakers will want to measure their defense against stiffer competition to truly feel great about what they are capable of. Even so, after Redick prioritized the defense over the offense to start training camp, this had to feel like a rewarding start to the campaign for the third-year head coach.
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