The Los Angeles Lakers bounced back from their preseason opener loss to the Golden State Warriors with an entertaining win against the Brooklyn Nets. The game took place in Las Vegas as the West Coast fans produced a home atmosphere for the Lakers in a 126-129 win.
W for the Purple & Gold pic.twitter.com/m2oKjzHgEo
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 10, 2023
LeBron James made his preseason debut in this contest, ending the game with 10 points, three rebounds, five assists, one steal, and one block on 38.5% shooting. Anthony Davis had a solid 13 points and seven rebounds performance, but the true stars were Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves.
Hachimura had 19 points on 57.4% shooting, while Reaves scored 18 points on just seven attempted field goals. This performance has Lakers fans really excited about their depth heading into the season.
Lakers Fans Are Convinced They Can Contend For The Title
Preseason games should never be looked at as an indicator of what’s to come, but this win showed way too many positives on this Lakers roster, especially offensively. One fan was happy that they won a preseason game, going 0-6 in the 2021 preseason that led to them missing the 2022 playoffs entirely.
YOUR LOS ANGELES LAKERS ARE NOT WINLESS IN THE PRESEASON pic.twitter.com/l4Y4BkFxaJ
— 𝘾𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙎𝙝𝙪𝙗𝙝 ⁶𓅓 (@OVOLakeShow) October 10, 2023
Fans were overjoyed to see the depth and shooting talent on this roster.
The Los Angeles Lakers finally have Shooting and Depth Again 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/j1pbcmItlD
— Jake (@playoffjake) October 10, 2023
Austin Reaves and Cam Thomas wowed fans with a series of sensational buckets against each other in the second half.
Cam Thomas and Austin Reaves gets into a pure hooper battle pic.twitter.com/1v5URJ61gG
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) October 10, 2023
Ben Simmons had a strong performance, exciting fans with the prospect of a possible comeback season.
I told you Ben Simmons is BACK 😤 pic.twitter.com/QUr7HCY1Ww
— 🟣🏀 Chris (@HoopSpaces) October 10, 2023
One fan couldn’t believe how accurate the Lakers were from three-point range after multiple seasons of being average to below average at that skill.
dawg the lakers made 20 3s tonight
LMFAOOOOOOOOO
— Coach Rome (@Rome_Beast) October 10, 2023
Championship hopes have already been established in LA LA Land.
I’ve been enough, Lakers will beat the Nuggets and Phoenix Suns on their way to the NBA Championship
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) October 10, 2023
Another fan thinks Anthony Davis‘ finding his shooting touch once again means the Lakers are bound to win the title.
Anthony Davis can shoot again 🥹🥹🥹
Yea Lakers really about to win it all & YES I am overreacting 🤣😂
— Raquel 🫶🏾 (@SOULbeautifulme) October 10, 2023
Even though the mood is positive, the Lakers to have things to work on after this game. They were in a commanding lead at halftime that the Nets managed to chip away in the second half. The Lakers were outscored by 11 points in the second half, not the best look for a fanbase bragging about their depth.
But it can’t be denied that the variety in production on this roster can be a huge tool all season long. Not only will it better prepare the team to keep winning when LeBron or Davis are hurt, but it’ll also allow the veterans to maximize what they do best with the support of the young roster members.
The Lakers Are Planning On Managing LeBron James’ Minutes
An over-reliance on LeBron from November to January last season caused severe damage to James. He was forced to take time off at the end of the season to get experimental procedures done on a torn tendon. Darvin Ham has a plan to avoid that from happening this season.
“We collaborate and communicate on what those steps will be. We make sure we come up with an effective plan. The beautiful thing about the way we move forward is one, he’s in phenomenal shape; two, he’s probably got more years in experience outside of Anthony Davis than the entire team combined in terms of games played and minutes played. And he takes phenomenal care of himself.”
With Davis expecting to play 82 games this season and shoulder the load as the star of a young team that wants to get minutes, this may finally be the year LeBron can take a step back and let his teammates take him to the playoffs instead of the other way around.
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