Steph Curry may have reminded us on Sunday that preseason results don’t matter, but there’s still an expectation to handle business. And for the Golden State Warriors, that meant there was an expectation that they would easily beat a Los Angeles Lakers squad that was playing without their three core, Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves, and Walker Kessler.
And handle business they did. It was Nellie Night at the Chase Center on Tuesday night, and the Dubs paid a perfect homage to the late, great coach, but
getting out and running, and scoring, scoring, and scoring some more.
Golden State’s starting five of Steph Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Yaxel Lendeborg, Gui Santos, and Draymond Green put on an absolute show on offense. They jumped out to an 11-2 lead within the first two minutes, and at the 6:55 mark Curry made his first of two four-point plays to give the Dubs a 27-13 advantage.
27 points in just over five minutes? Yep, Nellie surely would have been proud of that performance.
In all, the Warriors poured in 45 first-quarter points against a helpless Los Angeles squad, and then added 36 more in the second quarter, and hit the halftime lockers with an 81-53 advantage. It was a score reminiscent of the Run TMC Warriors or the We Believe squad. A fitting tribute.
Not surprisingly, given that it was just the second preseason game of the year, the Warriors pulled Curry and Green at the half, but those two had only needed a partial game to impress. Curry had more points (16) than minutes played (14), while shooting 4-for-7 from the field and 3-for-6 from deep, dishing out five assists with no turnovers, and finishing with a game-high +26. As for Green, he only took one shot (a three, which he made), but played spirited defense, whipped eight assists, and was +25 in just 15 minutes.
Steve Kerr also called it a night at halftime for Podziemski, who continues to be one of the stars of camp. The lefty shot 7-for-11 from the field en route to 16 points in just 19 minutes.
The bench never risked giving up the lead in the second half, but certainly didn’t pick up where the starters left off. After 81 first-half points, the second unit only had 15 points in the third quarter. But thanks to a strong defensive performance, they never let the Lakers, who only had 22 in the quarter, get close.
Lendeborg was the star outside the Curry/Green/Podz trio, as the rookie continues to impress. Like Podziemski, Lendeborg shot 7-for-11 from the field, and finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. He certainly looks very likely to earn a starting spot come opening night in two weeks.
While the second half wasn’t the high-flying offensive display that the first was, the Warriors still managed to separate themselves from the Lakers, thanks to a late 22-4 run. And with that, the buzzer rang on a festive night with the Dubs winning 124-98, moving their preseason record to 1-1.
Golden State has a rare preseason back-to-back, as they travel up to Oregon to face the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. PT. You can expect Curry and Green to rest rather than play on consecutive days.
