The Los Angeles Lakers had a tough NBA opening night against the Golden State Warriors. The Lakers lost at STAPLES Center 121-114, as their defense let them down in the second half of the game.
Golden State scored 68 points in the second half, putting together a total team effort. Los Angeles held Stephen Curry in check, as he went 5-of-21 from the field for only 21 points. But, their supporting cast had a wonderful game as six players scored at least 12 points.
Nemanja Bjelica was excellent in his debut with the Warriors. In 26 minutes off the bench, he scored 15 points to go along with 11 rebounds, four assists, and one steal. The Lakers had no answer for him all night as he finished with a game-high +20 plus/minus ratio.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, their biggest debut did not go as well. Russell Westbrook put up a dud in his first regular-season game in the purple and gold.
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He went 4-of-13 from the field, going 0-for-4 from the 3-point line and scoring only eight points. He grabbed only five rebounds with four assists in 35 minutes, turning the ball over four times as well.
It wasn’t what Westbrook wanted, but LeBron James did his best to make sure that he doesn’t beat himself up over it too much.
“I just don’t want him to be so hard on himself,” James said, via ESPN. “That was the one thing that I hoped to get through to him, don’t be so hard on himself. Go home and you’re going to see three babies that he has that might be asleep, but they’ll put a smile on his face. He has a beautiful wife and family. So at the end of the day, you go home and you’re really like, ‘OK, that was not that bad. It’s really not that bad.'”
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Things were rough for Westbrook in the preseason, and through one regular-season game, it was more of the same. The Los Angeles Lakers have a lot of new faces on the team this season, so patience will be needed to work out some of the kinks.
Sacrifice and adaptation will be necessary from everyone involved. It was something that LeBron James acknowledged post-game as well. Westbrook is on his fourth team in as many seasons, so it will take time to build up chemistry, but the team needs him to do what he does best to help win games.
“It’s challenging to go into a new system and trying to fit in but also bring what you bring to the table at a high level to fit out as well,” James said “And if there’s three guys on this team that shouldn’t be worried about not fitting in, it’s probably myself, AD and Russ. Obviously, we’re going to do whatever it takes to help the team win, but for us three, we need to fit out as well.”
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While he is struggling now, Russell Westbrook will eventually break out of the slump and start performing at a high level. He is too good of a player to be held down for long as LeBron James clearly believes, too.
