After dropping all six of their preseason contests, the Los Angeles Lakers (0-1) lost their first actual game of the 2021-22 NBA season, falling 121-114 to the Golden State Warriors (1-0) at Staples Center on Tuesday.

Besides the completely overhauled roster — including Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony in gold jerseys — things felt, for the most part, back to normal. The arena was at full capacity, Jack Nicholson! (among other A-listers) were courtside, and Anthony Davis and LeBron James were dominant on both ends of the floor.

Another annual occurrence: LeBron losing the first game of the season. Since relocating to Los Angeles, James is 0-4 on Opening Night (Davis, concurrently, is 0-3). Above all else, that stat may be the most compelling reason for Lakers' fans not to overreact after their team's raw and shaky performance.

Let's highlight some other notable numbers from Game 1 of 82.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Mj4t7tlH7pAYtzr7QsOLo

5) 10 missed free throws

The Lakers shot 9-of-19 from the charity stripe. Davis was 2-of-7, including five misses in a row. Westbrook didn't attempt a free throw.

By contrast, the Warriors shot 25-of-30. Ultimately, this was Golden State's key statistical advantage, and — along with Westbrook's struggles and a 38-point 4th quarter resulting from Lakers' defensive miscues — the primary reason they won the game.

Los Angeles finished 28th in free-throw percentage in each of the past two regular seasons. After shooting 82.3% from the line through his first nine seasons, Westbrook has hit 70.4% of his freebies since 2018.

Davis made 80.2% of his career free throws until last season, when his figure mysteriously dipped below 74%. During the preseason, he went 23-of-36.

“I just want to be dominant every time I touch the floor,” Davis said. “Layups, whatever, they’re going to go in, go out, whatever. Free throws, I definitely take pride in free throws. Because I get there a lot. I can’t go 2-7. I take pride in that. The team allows me to shoot technicals, defensive three (second violations), whatever. I take pride in hitting free throws.”

This is a problem with no obvious fix.

4) Russell Westbrook: -23

I wrote about Westbrook's understandably disastrous homecoming. To summarize: Westbrook was abysmal in every respect — in the box score and the eye test. Not only was he detrimentally unproductive, but he played out of character: He wasn't aggressive enough (see: zero free-throw attempts) nor generated offense for others.

In 35 minutes, Russ finished with eight points on 4-for-13 shooting (0-of 4 from 3) and four turnovers. By Game Score, it was one of the 10-worst outings of his career. The Lakers were plus-16 in 13 minutes with Russ on the bench.

Westbrook will feel less pressure as he settles in with the Lakers, but this game won't silence any doubters. Things could get messy before they tidy up.

“We want him to be himself, be aggressive, be Russell Westbrook,” AD said. “Be the reason why we traded for you. Once he does that, everybody else will figure out how to play around him, so it’s a learning experience, and, like I said: it’s the first.”

3) 50 words

After weeks of jovial press conferences since being traded to Los Angeles, Westbrook said 50 total words in his first regular-season presser. It lasted less than three minutes. He spent most of it looking at his phone.

https://twitter.com/hmfaigen/status/1450840424067649536

Surely, the pressure and anticipation of the last few days will subside. James and AD were sympathetic towards their new teammate's “first-game jitters”, who grew up dreaming of playing for the Lakers and likely had hordes of family and friends demanding access. Frank Vogel preached patience as Westbrook adjusts to a third-banana role for the first time in his career.

Before his terse press conference, James and Davis advised Westbrook to pick his head up, and both expressed hope that he takes it easy on himself.

“I told Russ to go home and watch a comedy,” James said. “Do something that can put a smile on his face. He's so hard on himself. I told him, ‘Don't be so hard on yourself. It's one game.' … That was the one thing that I hoped to get through to him: don't be so hard on himself.”

2) LeBron-AD combine for 67 points, 21 rebounds

On the plus side, LeBron and AD came to play. In fact, Tuesday marked the first time since 1969 in which the Lakers had two players score at least 30 in a season opener (remarkably, Shaq and Kobe never pulled it off). Incidentally, that game also resulted in a loss, despite Jerry West's 39 and Wilt's 35.

James finished with 34 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists. Davis had 33, 11, and two blocks. That degree of joint two-way dominance from the league's best duo was seen far too rarely in 2020-21.

LeBron was simply everywhere — dialed in, and bouncy. His shot was cooking, and he physically imposed himself all night. Back in the headband and No. 6, James resembled Miami Heat-Bron: Fast, furious, and flying around. Beyond his stellar play, he was clearly juiced to put on a show in front of a full house as he swaggered around the court.

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Foul shooting struggles aside, Davis played one of his best games since the bubble. As Silver Screen and Roll pointed out. AD was unstoppable inside and shot 6-of-9 when guarded by Draymond Green, per Silver Screen and Roll. Overall, he was 15-of-26 from the field.

Following a summer of physical transformation and personal milestones, Rajon Rondo (like myself) expects Davis to contend for Defensive Player of the Year and lead the Lakers in scoring, thereby garnering MVP attention. He displayed that potential on Tuesday.

“He was in a great rhythm,” James said about Davis. “Quick-twitch was great. Defensively he was great. He was knocking his midrange down. Getting into the paint. He was doing what we’ve grown and I’ve grown to seeing AD do over the course of his career and obviously the last three years I’ve been his teammate.“

“Those two guys were spectacular,” Vogel added. “Obviously big nights for both of them. We’re going to be pretty good if we get those type of performances.”

By the way: Davis played 22 of his 39 minutes at center.

1) ZERO other Lakers were in double-figures

Unfortunately, Davis and LeBron didn't get nearly enough help. Kent Bazemore — the only other Laker to eclipse 30 minutes — played strong defense on Steph Curry, holding him to 3-of-10 shooting when matched up. Avery Bradley, one day after being picked up off waivers from the Warriors, hit two clutch threes.

Everybody else was subpar, and nobody hit double-figures in scoring. That's not going to cut it.

Tuesday's game marked just the third instance in which the Lakers have lost when both Davis and James drop at least 30. As Westbrook improves and their supporting cast gets healthier, I don't expect it to happen again.