Warriors cruise past Lakers 123-109 on opening night of regular season

The Golden State Warriors started their 2022-23 regular season with a 123-109 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. The reigning champions celebrated last season’s NBA Finals championship with a pregame ring and banner-raising ceremony. Once the game got underway, the Dubs picked up exactly where they left off last season.

Both teams started slowly offensively, an understandable consequence of the Warriors pregame ceremony, which forced both teams to stand around for an added 20-30 minutes after warmups than usual. Jordan Poole helped the Warriors build an early 19-10 lead by knocking down a pair of deep threes after entering the game. Lakers big man Anthony Davis cut into the lead toward the end of the first quarter, but the Dubs finished the quarter ahead 25-22.

Warriors second-year center James Wiseman had an excellent 12-minute stretch spanning the first and second quarters. Wiseman cost himself several points, missing all four of his free-throw attempts in the first half. However, he looked comfortable within the flow of Golden State’s offensive and defensive schemes and used his size well. He finished the game with 4 points, 4 rebounds, and a block while drawing more fouls than he committed.

Warriors star Steph Curry returned to the floor halfway through the second quarter. While Curry was 0-for-5 from three in the first half, he still scored a game-high 16 points while adding 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Poole found Curry on a pair of beautiful passes inside, and the Dubs briefly held their first double-digit lead of the game before Russell Westbrook, and LeBron James led a small Lakers run to end the half.

With a 59-52 lead to start the third quarter, the Warriors had to feel good about one thing: they led despite Curry and Klay Thompson shooting 0-for-8 from three. Needless to say, it didn’t take long for that to change.

Thompson made three consecutive jump shots early in the third quarter and opened the floodgates. The Warriors had a nearly perfect third quarter, exploding offensively while grounding the Lakers attack to a halt. Golden State outscored the Lakers 32-19 and led 91-71 heading to the fourth.

The Lakers trio of stars mounted a weak comeback attempt in the fourth quarter, but unable to stop the Warriors, they were unable to cut the lead below 12. James finished with 31 points, 14 rebounds, and 8 assists on 12-for-25 from the field. Davis scored 27 points but was a game-worst -21 plus/minus. Westbrook recorded 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Curry finished with 33 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, and 4 turnovers in 33 minutes of action. He was the only player on the team to play at least 30 minutes.

Thompson added 18 points in 20 minutes. Andrew Wiggins was quiet offensively for most of the game before a trio of threes put the game out of reach in the fourth. Otherwise, he picked up right where he left off last postseason, filling up the stat sheet with 6 boards and 4 assists alongside excellent perimeter defense.

Now 1-0, the Warriors will have a couple of days off before hosting the Denver Nuggets on Friday with tip-off at the Chase Center scheduled for 7:00 PM Pacific.

You can check out the video of our postgame show below. Make sure to follow @maddelucchi on Twitch if you want to join the conversation during the live recordings.