Steph Curry cant save Warriors from familiar disaster in Lakers blowout
LOS ANGELES — In a season opener to forget, the Warriors were boat-raced out of Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night in a 127-105 loss to the Lakers.Any concern that Curry was at less than full strength after tweaking his ankle in an open practice last week should have evaporated by the end of the first quarter, if not earlier.He was just as smooth an operator as ever, even while breaking in a new, five-out offensive system.Curry finished with 23, including 16 of their first 21 when he took a seat for the first time at the 4:24 mark of the first quarter.
The new system did nothing to disrupt his chemistry with Draymond Green, who assisted on three of his first-quarter buckets and dished out eight total.The Warriors were efficient when Curry was on the floor, but the new system didn’t make up for the playmakers that they continue to lack when he takes a seat on the bench.The clean, crisp basketball that Steve Kerr strives for was on display as the Warriors kept it within 1 through the first quarter, turning the ball over just once to 10 assists while creating efficient looks to knock down 13 of 24 attempts from the floor.From the second quarter on, however, it was more of the same sloppy, stuck-in-the-mud offense that too often plagued them last season.They finished 37-for-91 (41%) from the field — just 8-for-36 from 3 (22%) — and still ended up coughing up the rock 16 times for 25 points.With Kristaps Porzingis out for who knows how long and backup center Charles Bassey also missing with knee tendinitis, the Warriors simply had no answer for Walker Kessler.The 7-foot-2 center was a regular recipient of lobs from Luka Doncic and mixed in a handful of ferocious putbacks dunks.
On his way to finishing a perfect 12-for-12 for 26 points with nine rebounds, both game-highs, Kessler slammed home all his first 11 buckets — the most dunks in one game by a Lakers player since prime Shaquille O’Neal, according to ESPN’s research.Without Porzingis, the Warriors a...