The much-anticipated debut of the Lakers' "Big 3" of Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and Russell Westbrook finally found its way to the court Tuesday night. Despite the strong efforts, Los Angeles dropped its fifth preseason game to the visiting Warriors, 111-99, despite Golden State not playing its stars in Steph Curry and Draymond Green.
Davis played 30 minutes and earned 20 points on 7 of 12 shooting, plus 6 of 9 at the free throw line, to go with six rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals. James finished 7 of 16 for 17 points along with six rebounds, four assists and three steals in 26 minutes, but led the team with six turnovers. Westbrook earned a double-double in 28 minutes of play, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds to along with his six assists.
Frank Vogel said the Lakers trio had an "overall good first outing" together, despite the loss, said the team is "collecting sample sizes to analyze on film" and doesn't believe a large workload is needed to help ease Westbrook.
"That's going to be the case for all of our new guys, said Vogel. "Not just Russ. They're familiar with our system and each other. I didn't like our spacing in a lot of situations, but I like what it's going to be [with AD at the five]."
Carmelo Anthony earned a spot in the starting lineup and finished with 13 points and five rebounds in 25 minutes.
The Lakers led by, a game best, 10 points early into the second quarter before Golden State went on 15-4 run to take the lead with three minutes left in the half. Despite being outscored 29-23 in the quarter, L.A. carried a two-point lead into halftime. The Warriors would outscore the Lakers 58-44 in the second half and never looked back.
Jordan Poole led GSW hitting 50 percent of his shots for 18 points, in addition to five rebounds, four assists and one steal in 19 minutes. Damion Lee and Otto Porter Jr. add 16 of their own points each and Andrew Wiggins earned 12 points in 22 minutes of play to help keep Golden State undefeated in preseason.
Prior to the game, the team announced that Talen Horton-Tucker had successful surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament on his right thumb and is expected to make a full and complete recovery. THT will be reevaluated by team doctors in approximately four weeks, and any further updates will be provided at that time.
Los Angeles will have one final tune-up in Sacramento on Thursday before they meet this same Warriors team for opening night on Oct. 19, at Staples Center.