There's an alternate universe where Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony saved the Los Angeles Lakers from losing to the Golden State Warriors in the opening game of the 2021-22 NBA season. It's just that this is not that realm. Both Lakers newcomers did not have the smoothest of debuts for the Lakers, as their negatives outweighed the positives they did in the Warriors game.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, the combination of Westbrook and Anthony on the floor in the loss to Golden State produced forgettable results for the Lakers.
The Lakers were outscored by 21 points in the 14 minutes Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony shared the floor on Tuesday, tied for their worst point differential by any two-man combo in the loss. Westbrook and Malik Monk were also -21 in 12 minutes.
Between the two, Westbrook had the worse night. He played 35 minutes but went just 4 of 13 from the field and finished with only eight points and a plus-minus of -23. No one from either the Lakers or Warriors had a plus-minus worse than -7 outside of Westbrook. Westbrook was not just hurting the Lakers by throwing one brick after another. He also shot his team in the foot by turning the ball over four times. Anthony, meanwhile, came off the bench and scored nine points in the 26 minutes he was on the floor. His plus-minus was -5.
Westbrook and Anthony stood directly in the opposite end of the spectrum to Anthony Davis and LeBron James, who combined for 67 points, 22 rebounds, and seven assists.
Concluding that the combination of Westbrook and Anthony is not going to be healthy for the Lakers sounds premature, given the team has only played a game, thus far. But Los Angeles' debacle on opening night might have given head coach Frank Vogel an idea that he should recalibrate the minute distribution for Westbrook and Anthony.
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