{"id":232308,"date":"2025-10-22T11:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T11:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/232308\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T11:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T11:15:09","slug":"the-lakers-were-unserious-in-preseason-and-it-showed-against-warriors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/232308\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lakers were unserious in preseason and it showed against Warriors"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES – Championship habits<\/a> and obsession<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All training camp long, head coach JJ Redick repeated these statements to the team, the media and anyone who would listen. But none of those words reflected the actions the Lakers displayed in their home opener, a 119-109 loss to the Warriors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The result, while disappointing, shouldn\u2019t have been a shocker because it looked exactly like every preseason game.<\/p>\n

Fans saw a disjointed offense where only Luka Don\u010di\u0107 shined. He ended the night with a whopping 43 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists.<\/p>\n

They also saw a defense that allowed the Warriors to shoot 42.5% from 3-point range. And the final cherry on this disappointing sundae was the third-quarter Lakers making an appearance.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles was a -124 in the third quarter last season, the eighth-worst point differential in the NBA. In the preseason, they were outscored in all six contests in the third period.<\/p>\n

So, what happened when the regular season began? Was a flip magically switched that righted all the wrongs?<\/p>\n

Instead, it was more of the same.<\/p>\n

The Warriors came out and punched the Lakers square in the face, going on a 17-4 run before Los Angeles called for time. A one-point deficit quickly became a 17-point margin that LA never recovered from.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trend I see is that we continue to be a terrible third quarter team,\u201d Redick said postgame. \u201cThat was last year, that was the preseason. Got to rethink some things. It\u2019s a two-way thing with the guys. What do they need to have time to make sure they\u2019re ready to play? They\u2019re not ready to play to start the third quarter.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the Lakers had the answers to their third-quarter woes, they\u2019d have fixed them by now. The reality, however, is that this team just hasn\u2019t had the game reps needed to have worked everything out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is probably the second game we actually played together with everybody,\u201d Rui Hachimura said. \u201cWe\u2019re still trying to get our rhythm. We had a lot of practices, but also in the game\u2026especially against the Golden State, they\u2019ve been playing together for probably four or five years. I think that was the difference. Other than that, I think we did a lot of things that we\u2019re supposed to do and it\u2019s a process. We\u2019re going to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not having everything together in Game 1 of 82 is understandable. Wasting away six preseason games where that chemistry could\u2019ve been built is not.<\/p>\n

Those were the opportunities where Redick could\u2019ve tinkered with multiple lineups, tried out different things against NBA teams that are actually going to try and stop it.<\/p>\n

No rational person would ask the Lakers to take all six preseason games with the same intensity as the regular season. But the Lakers had just a single game with their starting lineup and rotation available<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Was that such a tough ask for a team that was ousted in five games in the first round and added a new starting big and two rotation players to their roster? The lack of availability of players wasn\u2019t because of injuries, either. Marcus Smart and Gabe Vincent were limited in the first week of training camp before being fully cleared the rest of the preseason.<\/p>\n

This was an active choice by the Lakers to prioritize player health over building chemistry, even if it was just the preseason. On Tuesday, everyone in the rotation \u2014 sans LeBron James, obviously \u2014 was healthy\u2026and they looked like a team playing their second game together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s time,\u201d Austin Reaves said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t had a lot of time together as a complete group. Obviously, we\u2019re still not complete, but we\u2019re just going to continue to build and get better and learn how to play alongside one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of treating the games that don\u2019t matter a bit more seriously and get more time together, now the team is going to struggle in the games that do matter. After Tuesday\u2019s loss, they play the Wolves on Friday, the first of two meetings in the next four games.<\/p>\n

The Lakers were always going to have an uphill battle to start the season between integrating new pieces and doing so without LeBron. The preseason could have given the team a chance at a head start.<\/p>\n

But their unserious approach put them behind the eight ball from the jump this season.<\/p>\n

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88<\/a> or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social<\/a>.<\/p>\n