The new season for the Los Angeles Lakers got off to the exact same start as their last one, with a defeat at the hands of the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors had come out on top 121-114 last year in LA, and they won 123-109 at home this time around.
There was a lot that went wrong for the Lakers in the game. The Warriors got 27 points off turnovers, which will often ensure you lose the game, and to go with it, the Lakers also shot terribly from beyond the arc as they went 10-40.
NBA Fan Knew The Lakers Were In Trouble Against The Warriors
LeBron James was brutally honest about their shooting struggles, as he admitted they’re not a team that has been constructed with a lot of good shooters. The Lakers as a team ended up shooting just 43% from the field for the game, which won’t get you too many wins. Rather surprisingly, Russell Westbrook was their most efficient player on the court, and a fan joked that they knew the Lakers were in trouble because Russ had the best FG % on the team.
You know it’s bad when Russ has the best FG% on the team 📉pic.twitter.com/J3d0FA50xt
— ClutchPoints Betting (@CPBetting) October 19, 2022
He may have airballed the three in the clip here, but he did manage to hit one of them from three tries in total and was the only Lakers starter to connect on over 50% of his field goals.
via NBA:
Russell Westbrook: 19 points, 7/12 from the field for 58.3% shooting
LeBron James: 31 points, 12/25 from the field for 48% shooting
Anthony Davis: 27 points, 10/22 from the field for 45.5% shooting
Patrick Beverley: 3 points, 1/5 from the field for 20.0% shooting
Lonnie Walker: 5 points, 2/7 from the field for 28.6% shooting
Kendrick Nunn, who came off the bench, was the only other player to go better than 50% as he was 5-9 from the field. Russ attacked the basket quite a few times and had success, but he probably won’t have too many games where he is this efficient moving forward.
The Lakers will need LeBron and Davis, in particular, to up those shooting percentages. AD had gotten off to a great start in the game, as he had 10 points on 4/6 shooting in the first quarter, but from then on out, he went just 6/16. This Warriors game is part of an insanely difficult opening stretch for the Lakers, and they’ll need to up their game if they don’t want to get off to an embarrassing start.
