Prior to the match, Luka Doncic bought a whole-page advertisement in the Los Angeles Times newspaper. He made this statement: "We are ready to launch our journey to the Championship tonight."
The Los Angeles Lakers, already so good that they may have us just about in the palm of their hand, were too much for the Golden State Warriors on their home turf Wednesday, October 21, yet this is no surprise because the Lakers have opened every year of their existence with a win.
That will be a new experience for the Lakers because it will have been six years since the organization has started a campaign without LeBron James. The reason behind this was his move from the Lakers to Philadelphia through free agency after spending eight years with the Lakers.
Doncic did not need a monster game. Doncic scored the most points of all players with 28 points. He made seven out of eighteen field goals, including five three-pointers. Also, he grabbed eight rebounds and made seven assists.
Notably, Doncic was also responsible for committing many errors during the game. He committed six turnovers in the match.
This play occurred in the second quarter towards the end. This was an awesome half-court shot to give the Lakers a 66-52 lead heading into halftime.
The first possession summed up the game. With the shot clock winding down, Doncic got by Draymond Green to the paint and laid up an alley-oop to the new big man, Walker Kessler.
Kessler was the other star. He finished 12-12 shooting. Doncic worked hard to get Kessler in the off-season, and GSoM said the trade was brilliant at least for one game.
The group on the floor was mostly a new group for the Lakers. Out of the nine Lakers who took part before the garbage time, Doncic, Austin Reaves, and Jake LaRavia were the only players who appeared in last season’s roster.
Kessler, Matisse Thybulle, and Ziaire Williams were the starting lineups, while Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili, and Kevon Looney were in the bench lineups.
However, there was one bad thing that happened. LaRavia got injured, which looked like a painful injury for him.
Doncic received additional motivation during the second quarter. Trash talk with the rookie of the Warriors team, Yaxel Lendeborg, seemed to motivate the Lakers player.
"The You Cannot Guard Me" is the name of the event described in Fadeaway World.
The words he said first remain unknown according to the materials I've examined.
For some time, the Golden State did not give up. At the beginning of the season, for 20 minutes, Golden State was playing well against the Lakers. Warriors made 33 points in the first quarter; among them, Stephen Curry scored 16 points.
But the tide turned. In the middle of the fourth quarter, the Lakers had the score of 102-68. This score difference was up to 35 points in the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Steph Curry scored 23 points for the team in 21 minutes.
The Warriors team lacked crucial players, as Jimmy Butler, Kristaps Porzingis and Moses Moody were not available for their debut game. The handicappers knew the difference. According to the FanDuel Sportsbook, the Los Angeles Lakers were favored by 6.5 points. The margin was 22 points.
The difference from last year is stark. In the October 2025 opener, the Warriors defeated the Lakers by a score of 119-109, with 31 points contributed by Butler. Doncic scored 43 points in the loss for the Lakers.
James was absent from this match because of sciatica. Last year, the Lakers were defeated without James playing in the opener. This year, the Lakers were victorious without him in their squad.
