The Los Angeles Lakers endured a disappointing season opener despite Luka Doncic’s 43-point performance against the Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 119-109, and the Lakers appeared to miss LeBron James more than expected after he was sidelined with an injury.
Luka Doncic’s physical changes made headlines over the summer after concerns about his fitness were raised when Doncic was traded to the Dallas Mavericks.
The Lakers’ lack of defense and size were their biggest weaknesses in the playoffs last season, and Doncic’s improved form should help in that department.
However, despite signing Deandre Ayton this summer, the Lakers still lacked intelligence against the Warriors, one of the smaller teams in the NBA. The lack of defensive effectiveness caused major concerns for six-time All-Star Blake Griffin.
The Lakers were hoping the trio of Doncic, Austin Reeves and Ayton would step up in James’ absence and win some competitive games early in the season. So far so bad on that front.
Only one of the big names was able to make a difference, and despite Doncic’s monster opening night, the Lakers didn’t have the firepower to compete with the Warriors until the end.
Griffin said there are still major concerns about the Lakers’ defensive ability, even though Doncic has looked more effective in that regard to start the season.
He said this on the Zach Lowe Show. “My biggest question is, I don’t know how we’re going to protect our backcourt with Luka and Austin Reeves having to play over 34 minutes a game.
“That was their Achilles’ heel last year. Rebounding was their Achilles’ heel. Ayton’s experiment, we’ll see how long that lasts. I thought they were incredibly flat.”
“The only good thing was that Luka looked great. He was in good shape. He was aggressive defensively. He had some steals and blocks. I was also encouraged by the way he looked in the second and fourth quarters. He still looked fresh.”
“I know it’s Game 1, but I’m pretty disappointed. I think Austin Reeves probably had 13 points in the fourth quarter, but 11 of those points were probably in the last six minutes. You look at the box score and he had 26 points, and you think, ‘Oh, he had a pretty good game,’ but it was too little, too late at that point.”
Ayton was widely criticized in his Lakers debut as he disappeared for most of the game. And Griffin said he wants the former No. 1 pick to do something that completely changes the way he defends.
Ayton admitted after the Warriors loss that he is a difficult big man to play with. He appeared to be separated from Doncic in pick-and-rolls, drifting into midrange hoping to utilize more of a finesse game instead of spinning hard toward the hoop.
Lakers fans have been unhappy with Ayton, a trend we’ve seen from the big man the past few seasons. The Portland Trail Blazers waived Ayton this summer after just two seasons with the team.
But Griffin believes the Lakers’ entire team could change just by having Ayton roll to the hoop harder and more often.
“He’s got to do a couple solid rolls early in the game, so he might be able to do little things. If you’re throwing him a bone and trying to get him to do those little short rolls that he wants to do, I feel like he’s always kind of in the wrong place.
“He needs to move on to the next gear. He doesn’t need to be a 25-year-old or 15-year-old player. He just needs to be a 12-year-old or 12-year-old player who plays properly.”
“And it’s going to be great for Luka, it’s going to be great for the Lakers, it’s going to be great for their defense and everything else. So, it was a little disappointing. I don’t know if we were expecting a big turnaround from Ayton, which we’ve seen over the years, but that’s kind of what I saw.”
Griffin appears to have given up on Ayton’s success as an NBA player. Many hoped that playing alongside Doncic would help the Phoenix Suns regain the form that helped them reach the NBA Finals in 2021.
But this is just one game, so Ayton has time to find a way to make a positive impact on his new team.