Golden State Warriors set to begin title defense against Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors are set to clash in a battle of potential contenders on opening night.
Fresh off of the franchise’s seventh championship and fourth in the last eight seasons, the Golden State Warriors hope to begin the journey towards another run at the Larry O’Brien trophy. There may not be a team in the league as talented as this group but LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers may have something to say about that.
Both teams will have an opportunity to make an early statement as they face off on NBA Opening Night. These two teams are expected to be in the thick of things in the Western Conference and this is an early test for both squads with huge expectations.
A Los Angeles Lakers primer:
There are many question marks entering the new season for the Lakers as they will attempt to fix the problems that hindered them last season. The first thing the front office did was hire Darvin Ham to coach the team. Ham has a reputation as a” players coach ” having played in the NBA himself.
Many will be watching to see if he will be able to mesh all the big egos and get them to buy into working as a cohesive unit and putting their individual accolades to the side for the good of the team in order to achieve a bigger goal. LeBron James returns for his 20th season and he will become just the 10th player in NBA history to appear in 20 different seasons.
The Lakers are keeping their fingers crossed hoping that Anthony Davis will remain healthy for the majority of the season. They know they have a small window of opportunity to win while they have James and it all falls on Davis’s ability to stay healthy. The Lakers brought in Patrick Beverly and he should serve as an enforcer as he is a bulldog on the defensive end. This is a role Beverly has embraced on his former teams and has excelled in and he should be able to do the same thing for the Lakers.
He will have to be a menace against the Warriors’ potent offensive attack and try to run the Splash Brothers and company off the 3-point line and make it difficult for them to get shots off. Many feel as if Russell Westbrook is on the decline but let’s not forget that he is a former MVP, was a perennial all-star selection, and is a future Hall of Famer.
He is still capable of putting up big numbers and could be much better than he was last season under this new system and new coach. The Lakers do have areas they need to drastically improve from last season if they want to have success. Last year the Lakers finished in the bottom half of the league in rebounds per game (largely due to Davis missing games) and also 3-point percentage.
More importantly, the Lakers must be able to make free throws. They were in the bottom half of the NBA in free throws made per game but were top 10 in free throw attempts per game. They also finished 2nd to last in free throw percentage. If the Lakers expect the champagne to flow this summer it all starts with a statement on opening night against the defending champions.
A Golden State Warriors primer:
The Golden State Warriors begin their title defense against the Lakers and they have a team that is capable of being even better than they were last year. The usual cast of stars is back as Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins hope to lead the Warriors to back-to-back titles.
Yes, those are the household names that we all know too well but it’s the Warriors’ impressive young group of talented players who can make a name for themselves and solidify a role on this team. After impressive rookie seasons, Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody appear ready to take the next steps in their development hoping to be able to take the reigns and lead the Warriors whenever Curry, Thompson, and Green decide to call it a career.
But for now, all they have to do is sit back, watch, and learn from some of the best to ever play the sport. After sitting out an entire season James Wiseman returns to action ready to play. It remains to be seen exactly what role head coach Steve Kerr has in mind for the talented big man who is only 21 years old as the Warriors have the luxury of having these young athletes waiting in the wings as they continue to get better.
The Warriors did lose some key pieces who helped them capture the championship but were able to replace them with some good fits for their roster. Gone are Damion Lee, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Gary Payton II, and Otto Porter Jr. but they added Donte DiVincenzo, JaMychal Green, Ty Jerome, and rookie Patrick Baldwin Jr. who all possess the necessary skill set to play within the Warriors system.
Making headlines was the incident between Green and Jordan Poole who are two players on the team who played a significant role in bringing a title back to the Bay. Many people outside of the organization wondered if the conflict between them would be fixed before the season began but according to Kerr, the situation was handled internally and everything should be a go come opening night.
It will be interesting to see what strategy the Warriors use to try and contain James and Davis.
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They could play a zone and try to force them to shoot it from the perimeter but may be forced to change plans if they knock down their shots. Expect this game to be close as this will be one of many games that will tell the story in the Western Conference this season.