How the Warriors beat the Lakers 123-109 on NBA opening night: Result and analysis

Stephen Curry made back-to-back 3-pointers — the first a step-back from the right corner in transition, followed by one from the right wing in which the net didn't move. Before that, he was 0-for-6 from 3 and it was looking like one of them nights for the game's greatest shooter.

Oddly enough, it was on the Chase Center floor he ended his streak of consecutive games with a 3. In Game 5 of the NBA Finals — the Boston Celtics finally abandoned its drop-coverage scheme and started trapping him off pick-and-rolls — Curry went 0-for-9 from.

That snapped his streak at 233 games (counting playoffs).

His regular season streak is still alive. But that means at one point — before the transition 3 that put the Warriors up 84-64 with 5:27 left — Curry had missed 15 straight threes at Chase Center (In real games. He made some during the preseason).

It always does with the Warriors – often in the third quarter.

The Lakers' turnovers, poor 3-point shooting and inability to corral defensive rebounds compounded into what's become a Golden State rout in the second half. Los Angeles doesn't have much margin for error against good teams this season. They need to out-execute their opponents to make up for their talent deficit at spots 3 through 15.

But the Lakers' third-quarter performance was disjointed, making it clear how wide of a gap there is between them and the league's elite currently.

There's a symbiotic relationship between pace and space – hence the two terms so often getting used together. Playing faster makes it easier to get more in-rhythm 3s, and spacing the floor makes it easier to thrust the ball up the floor faster.

The converse is also true, though: no space leads to less pace, and vice versa. Exhibit A: the Los Angeles Lakers in this first half.

LA is currently 3-of-21 from 3 and has bricked a bunch of layups trying to ram the ball to the rim. In truth, the Lakers are somewhat fortunate to be down just seven at halftime. They made a decent push at the end of the first half when Golden State threatened to break it open. But at some point, they have to hit a damn shot.

The question now – and the question for their whole season, really – is whether their poor shooting can somehow be masked, and how.

One way is to be very intentional in how they space the floor. They began the game posting up Anthony Davis on the left block and standing still to give him space. The theory makes sense, and worked at times early.

But once the Warriors began shifting more of their defense to protect the paint, those same players that were standing still were too stationary and were not ready to shoot with confidence when they got the ball. The lack of flow in the Lakers' half-court sets, which was a feature in terms of getting the stars the ball where they wanted, became a bug once the Warriors realized they weren't threatening without it.

Playing faster is one way to fix that problem. But the Lakers have to be wary playing fast because they don't naturally possess the shooters or floor spacing to create driving lanes. They must engineer it by standing still and intentionally in half-court sets, which, as a consequence, prevents them from playing fast.

They couldn't make a 3-pointer in that first quarter (1-of-10, 10%) and they gave up four offensive rebounds to the much larger, longer and more athletic Warriors. They just look small with their three-guard, one-big lineups.

Anthony Davis' monster quarter (10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals,1 block) has been enough to keep the Lakers in the game, but need to find ways to keep Golden State's defense from loading up the paint and they need to protect the glass on the other end.

Drawn out ring ceremony followed by a slog of a first quarter. Game initially listed as a 7 pm tip time. First quarter just ended at 8:16 pm local. A few early thoughts.

1. Anthony Davis was the best player on the floor the first 12 minutes. Scored 10 but probably stopped another 10 points on the defensive end. He had one terrific stoning of a Jordan Poole drive, averting the layup and then batting away the pass to James Wiseman.
2. Poole hit two early 3s upon entering, which juiced up an otherwise bad first quarter from a Warriors' offense that didn't look prepared for the size and physicality.
3. Ten players on Golden State played and that didn't include Moses Moody. The Warriors have 11 players with legitimate rotation expectations this season, but it's difficult for any coach to fit 11 in a rotation.
4. Five rebounds, two steals for Steph Curry in an odd first quarter, where he went 1-of-5 shooting and that only make was a post fadeaway. Jumper was off.

Lakers guard Lonnie Walker was introduced to a part of Curry's (still expanding?) arsenal, something he's been working on — the post.

Walker, an athletic 6-foot-4 wing who is more than a decade younger, did a good job sticking with Curry. Even though he was beat by a behind-the-back dribble, he recovered and stripped Curry from behind. Curry got the ball back and had Walker glued to him on the baseline. So Curry went to his post move.

He did a Dream Shake, or his best point guard version of one, and drilled the fadeaway jumper over Walker. It’s a move we’ve seen Curry working on in practice. The fade-away jumper from the post is a go-to for players who are aging, popularized by Michael Jordan.

Problem for Curry is he doesn’t have the height or the leaping ability to shoot over the contest, like Jordan or Kobe Bryant. So it’s about the angle and the arc. The one he made over Walker looks like the rainbow shot he’s been practicing.

Stephen Curry had the microphone during the Warriors' pregame ceremony and he used it to shine light on two women.

The first was Brittney Griner, the WNBA player who has been wrongfully detained in a Russia prison. Tuesday is her 32nd birthday.

The other woman, Curry called to the middle of the floor — much to her surprise. She is Nanea McGuigan. Her official title is director of basketball administration and player programs. Unofficially, she is the backbone of the basketball operations office. She manages the schedules of general manager Bob Myers and members of his staff.

She’s also in charge of whatever players need, she’s the one to get it — car services, hotels and flights for family members, tickets to events, you name it.

She organized the Warriors’ preseason trip to Japan, which was a party of 135 people.

More than that, she’s widely known as one of the nicest people in the world. She shuns any attention, stays behind the scenes and is kind to everyone. So Curry gave her the biggest spotlight.

Despite ripping the Band-Aid off in their preseason finale and bringing him off the bench, the Lakers are starting Russell Westbrook in their season opener. The Lakers are starting Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Patrick Beverley, Lonnie Walker IV and Westbrook.

It’ll be interesting to see how head coach Darvin Ham staggers James and Westbrook, and if Westbrook is more a nominal starter who gets a quick pull early in games and then plays more with the second unit. Ham said he plans on sticking with one lineup for a while, and not changing his starters game to game, so this is a grouping that the Lakers will likely try for at least a few games until re-evaluating.

Despite Lakers coach Darvin Ham saying Los Angeles would try Russell Westbrook coming off the bench, the nine-time All-Star will start in tonight's season opener on the road against the Golden State Warriors.

ANTHONY SLATER: I’m most curious about the Warriors’ rotation in the opener. There were enough missing pieces and moving parts in the preseason that minutes were spread around generously to the 11 projected rotation players. But Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are back and it’s near impossible to dole out legit opportunity to 11 players, even if they’re all worthy of an extended shot. So the questions arise: Is Jordan Poole locked into 30-plus minutes despite coming off the bench? Can Jonathan Kuminga and James Wiseman fit in lineups together? Does JaMychal Green eat away at the court time of the youth? Is Donte DiVincenzo ahead of Moses Moody in the pecking order? If Poole closes, who sits?

"I don't think we're ready to have our top five or six guys play 35 plus minutes per night," Steve Kerr said. "So we have to rely on our depth — not only on opening night but the first couple of weeks. And that's OK. I think we have a really deep team."

MARCUS THOMPSON: Draymond Green. In light of what happened, I’m fully expecting him to turn up this year. He is in reputation renovation mode, and he also is essentially playing for his next contract. The best way to solve both problems is to play well.

“I’m going to do exactly what I do when I’m motivated, in a major way,” he said. “And you and I know what that is. So, I’m looking forward to this year.”

What’s interesting about this opener is the opponent. This pits Green up against Anthony Davis, someone Green has had success defending over the years. Locking up Davis to start the year would be the kind of opening statement Green wants to start his Defensive Player of the Year campaign. Especially after Davis cooked the Green-less Warriors in the preseason.

The better Green looks, the further he pushes the incident into the past.

(Photo: John Hefti / USA Today)

In the aftermath of the Draymond Green practice punch and ensuing extensions for Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins, there has been plenty of chatter about the long-term ramifications. But, if the situation doesn’t explode, it theoretically sets up well for the Warriors in the present.

Jordan Poole is moving back to the bench with Klay Thompson in the lineup, but doesn’t need to obsess over how his minute and point totals will impact his market. He’s signed a big deal. Same with Andrew Wiggins. The uncertainty of a contract season — which he didn’t want — is no longer over his head.

Then there is Green. The motivation for him to have a super charged, high impact regular season and playoffs is obvious. He is searching for one more big payday in the Bay Area or elsewhere. A questioned, motivated Green is typically a great Green for the Warriors.

He will get an immediate chance to remind the world of his worth. The Warriors open with the Lakers tonight and Nuggets on Friday. Green will guard Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic. Davis demolished the Warriors’ young frontcourt for 22 first half points in a preseason game last week while Green was away from the team, powering through Jonathan Kuminga for a couple and-1 layups and hitting a few jumpers on a late-to-recover James Wiseman.

These are mistakes Green doesn’t make.

(Photo: John Hefti / USA Today)

The Warriors aren’t the only ones receiving championships rings on Tuesday night. Juan Toscano-Anderson, who played for Golden State from 2019 through 2022, will also be given his ring.

Toscano-Anderson told The Athletic he has conflicting emotions on ring night and facing his former team.

“I think it's bittersweet, man,” Toscano-Anderson said. “… I'm excited to go back and get my ring. It's pretty dope that I'm gonna be able to celebrate the ring ceremony on opening night with those guys, when the actual ring ceremony is bound to happen. … It's going to be a helluva night. I know all my family's gonna be there. I know they're extremely excited. And just to finally put that hardware on and have it in my hand, words can't really explain it. I don't even know really know how to feel yet. I'm excited and happy about it.”

The game will also mark the first time that Toscano-Anderson is an opponent in a regular season game at Chase Center. Nonetheless, he thinks the preseason matchup between the two teams took out some of the nerves around the tilt.

“I think the weird feeling is gonna be gone,” Toscano-Anderson said. “It was weird when we played there in the preseason. … Going into Chase Center wearing the opposing jersey and sitting on the other side was just kind of different.”

(Photo: Darren Yamashita / USA Today)