More than half this Los Angeles Lakers roster got overhauled this summer. When you get that kind of turnover, you expect growing pains. The Lakers showed very little of that in their lopsided 127-105 bludgeoning of the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night.
Los Angeles opened up the game trading offensive blows with a red-hot Stephen Curry. Curry and the Warriors eventually cooled off. The Lakers never did. They scored 34 points in the first, 32 in the second, and 36 in the third quarter. The only period in which they did not break 30 was the fourth quarter. By then, it was pretty much garbage time in this head-to-head.
Some of the most impressive figures? The Lakers shot 57 percent (46-of-81) from the field, 39 percent (11-of-28) from beyond the arc, and assisted on 28 of their buckets during the contest. It was not a perfect night, but it was a very encouraging outing all the same from the offensive attack.
It is scary to think this is just the early phase of the Lakers offense geling
Another area in which the Lakers found a ton of success during the Warriors game was getting easy buckets down low. The first two points of the season included a lob pass from Luka Doncic to Walker Kessler. That set the stage for 66 points in the paint for the offense.
It also teed up what was about to be an electric debut from their new starting center. Kessler was a dominant force on offense in this one. The Lakers center finished the game with 26 points, hitting a perfect 12-of-12 from the field. It was the second-best shooting game in Lakers history behind only Wilt Chamberlain. That is good company to keep.
Pointing out the lack of resistance from the Warriors here is fair. Golden State did not truly have a good matchup for Kessler. However, part of the excitement for the Lakers is being able to exploit that type of mismatch in as dominant of a way as they did.
Kessler was more than happy to stay active and alert, constantly readying himself to finish off a play from Doncic, Austin Reaves, or otherwise. Jovan Buha summed it up perfectly when he joked about the highly-priced big man looking more than satisfied with the Clint Capela role.
On the whole, there were still bugs within the system. One of the funniest moments of the night was Doncic trying to throw a lob pass to Kevon Looney. That was... well... misguided.
However, those are the things there should have been more of for a group that is still figuring each other out. Instead, those moments lacked abundance.
Lakers offense has every opportunity to be elite
The Warriors were an easy matchup to pick apart for the Lakers' first game of the season. It will be worth monitoring how this all develops and evolves as the year goes along.
In particular, seeing how they perform against a contender would be of great intrigue. The closest opportunity for that comes against the Toronto Raptors on Nov. 1. Not only are the Raptors a genuine title threat, but they also project as an elite defense captained by Scottie Barnes and Kawhi Leonard.
If the Lakers offense can hold their own against that type of competition, it will be a great sign of what is to come. The pieces fit well together in Los Angeles on night one. If that continues to be the trend, the expectations for what they can do on that end will be set extraordinarily high.
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