Los Angeles Lakers vs Golden State Warriors - LeBron James, Anthony Davis reassure Russell Westbrook

Hey, it's FYL Sports, man. It's Lamont. We are back. Start of the NBA season, man. And the NBA did a great job of scheduling and giving us some great matchups. Day one, NBA opening day. So, we back 2021-22 season. We've been talking all summer about all of the changes that these teams have made. All right, it seems to be a shift in the balance of power. First, it was the Brooklyn Nets with their dominant big three. Now, the Lakers have created a new super big three. Warriors look primed to bounce back with Klay Thompson's return, James Wiseman into his second year, Steph Curry coming off a scoring title, Draymond Green, and then they have a revamped roster over there, guys like Jordan Poole. Giannis Antetokounmpo looks back, looks better than ever with his jump shot. This year is going to be crazy. This year is going to be crazy, and a lot of surprises from the Bulls, right? So, I feel like there's going to be some sleeper teams like the Celtics. There's going to be some surprises here. We're going to be following this all. So again, make sure you guys are checking to watch for our live streams when we do our NBA watch parties. Make sure you, when we do our NBA film studies and our recaps, we're going to be following this season extremely closely because there's a lot at stake for a lot of players. We got the Kyrie Irving situation. We got the Ben Simmons drama. I mean, we got all types of headlines around the league. And as for today, what better way to start the season off with this matchup ended up closing the night. We had the Bucs in the next early. We finished the night with the Lakers and Warriors, two teams that are going to be right in the mix of things when it comes down to who wins the Western Conference and gets to the finals. All right, so we got the highlights in. All right, we got the highlights in. This is a game that the Golden State Warriors were able to win. All right, we're going to run through the highlights. What went wrong for the Lakers? Was it the injuries to the bench? All right, was Golden State just that unstoppable? Steph Curry had another great game. We're going to get to all of those highlights and more. Make sure you guys like, comment, and subscribe. Hit the notification bell to the video if you haven't done so already. Grinding to 30k subscribers. We will be there soon. Less than 500 subs away from 30k. It's been a grind to get there. Salute to you guys for helping make it happen. Aside from that, we're going to go ahead and get to these highlights. We're going to go ahead and pull up our big board and we're going to check out the highlights between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers. Lakers Warriors, man. Lakers Warriors. Hey, man, started the game off pretty good right there. What do y'all think about this? What do y'all think about this Golden State Warrior roster? All right, without James Wiseman early, Kevin Looney starting to center, I think that's their weakest point. LeBron James fade away. Good shot right there. It's a good sign. Good sign when he's making those shots. Steph Curry. Tough shot, man. Great move. Good pass. Hey, the ball movement for the Warriors is always going to be immaculate. Always going to be immaculate. The Lakers are going to have to find a way to guard in that type of space. It's one of Russell Westbrook's biggest weaknesses. Golden State with that 12-9 lead early. LeBron deep three. But do you guys agree? I think LeBron is at his best when he's facilitating getting the others involved. Whenever LeBron James is a scorer, I feel like it's because his team is struggling a bit. Got Rondo in the game early in the first. Baysmore now, swap teams now with the Lakers, man. He's going to have to step up his game with all of the injuries to Malik Monk and Taylor Hort Tucker. AD with the fadeaway. All right. Hey, I just was about to say that. I want to see AD do more at the rim. He finishes at the rim right there. We know he has a jumper in his bag. LeBron with another pull-up three. Oh, that's Melo. Headband Melos. Warrior spacing. Leaving that strong side corner. Rondo has to be better. This is where chemistry is going to come into play. AD, great drive. Way to get to the rim. Finishes. Steph Curry pick and roll. Tough to guard this man. Finishes. Beautiful layup in traffic, man. Good finish. LeBron ISO post. Hey, good, good post. Again, LeBron looking like he's a great scorer. Lakers up early, it seems, in this game. 36-32. Ooh, Jordan Poole. Hey, do y'all have him as the most improved player this year? I do. I think he can be. Hey, have y'all noticed how many times the Warriors are getting these open corner threes? Let me run that back for you real quick. What you see right here, this play right here is killing teams and it's already giving the Lakers problems. It's already giving the Lakers problems. So this is what we call creating an open set. This is called a 1-4 set. All right, just so you guys know, we got to teach a little basketball right now. This is called a 1-4 set and what Eddie Goodell is doing is, he's setting a pick and roll and he's going to roll into the open space. You see here, you have three guys overloaded on one side. This means, this right here, means that the Warriors feel like they can identify and they can pick on a weakness in the Laker defense. All right, we're going to play it, see how it unfolds. All right, Poole is getting into space off the pick and roll. He drives. So again, that Laker defense, T. Dwight Howard, obviously, because they've overloaded that opposite side, there's no help defense where Dwight Howard normally allows help defense to go pick up Iguodala on the three-point line. So he's not leaving the paint. Howard chooses to ice the screen by staying inside. But the Warriors, again, great offensive team. All right, by those guys being disciplined, staying and keeping the force faced over there, where they can keep this open set over here with Iguodala. Watch how he gets an open three. They've done this three times already, just in this highlight. Overload one side. They can't get help to the three-point line. That should be Rondo. But again, if Rondo leaves his guard to corner, then that means Dwight Howard is going to have to defend without fouling against Jordan Poole attacking the rim. So do we want to get our big man in trouble or does Rondo need to do a better job of identifying this particular play, especially when they overload that other side with shooters? And as we see what happens, allows the open three. Dwight Howard can't contest. That's an easy shot for these NBA players. Good post by Westbrook. I'm going to run through the stats, man. I'm curious to see how he did tonight. Golden State Warrior, 40-350. Wiggins, good take. AD with the post. I just don't like this stagnant offense by the Lakers. But it's still a tough shot. Tough shot. But he's going to have to score in crowds like that. AD's got to score. Way to get to the rim. Laker defense is struggling right there. We got to look at what went wrong. What went wrong right here? Okay, again, so as we always see, remember, y'all see the set right here. They're going to the same set, right, a 1-4 flat pick and roll, right? They're setting a pick and roll. They're allowing Curry to attack into space. Now, he's driving at all of the Laker bigs. He's driving at all of the Laker bigs and defenders. Russell Westbrook's biggest weakness, one of his weaknesses, is defending off ball. Right now, he has his hands on his knees with Steph Curry driving right at the rim. Never a good sign when one of your star players has their hand on their knees when Steph Curry is driving with a head of steam to the rim. Let's see how it pans out. All right, well, so now they have to make a decision. Steph Curry's now collapsed the defense. We see four defenders now focused on Steph Curry. That's never going to lead, especially in space, where none of them are even attached to him. He can literally pick whatever he wants to do right now. All right, this is something the Lakers are going to have to fix. They can't allow guys to attack in space. Maybe this is something where AD needs to play a little higher, right, so he can pick up on this pick and roll a little bit better or the screener. They're just going to have to just outright switch just to keep guys in front of him. And Curry just gets right to the rim, right, right to the rim. He's picking his poison. And AD cannot fully commit to Steph Curry because he's a great passer. They've been driving and kicking to these wings all day. So if he fully commits, right, you know, if he fully commits, he's going to get burned on the pass. And also, you don't, he doesn't want to get in foul trouble either. All right, Steph Curry finishes. AD, step back. See, I don't like this. I don't like these ISIL shots for Anthony Davis. I don't like that. And this is what we're seeing a lot of from the Lakers. They're making shots. I just don't think that's going to turn into long-term success for this team. Russ, great attack, way to go right at the rim. But the one thing you notice is the Lakers are having to score contested shots constantly. They're not getting nothing open. Poole's going to knock that down. Much improved player. Lakers still up by three right now. Brian, good fade away, but look at everything that they're doing. They comes down the court, no passes, one dribble shot. Way to get in transition. This is what the Lakers want to do. They want to play in transition. Great pass right there. Lakers up, 70-62. Steph Curry gets the rebound amongst four Lakers. Jordan Poole, my most valuable player of the year. Man, that man, he looks like he hasn't lost a step. LeBron, nice shot right there, 77-72. Good pass by Rondo. Get cross-court. Leak Monk back from that growing injury. Good move. He sheds off Draymond Green, gets the fade away. AD looks heavier to me. They said he's in better shape. He just looks slower and heavier. That's it. I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing. We'll see how it bodes regards to the injury risk. Good pass by Steph Curry. By Alicia. I like that pickup. A lot of people don't know that guy. By Alicia. Came from the Sacramento Kings, man. Really good player. Makes shots, can stretch the floor. Jordan Poole, man. And I feel like he's taking shots similar to what Steph Curry does. You know, you wonder where he gets that confidence from. It doesn't surprise me. Damian Lee, man. I love how he's developed his game with this team. LeBron, another step back. LeBron's jumper is looking nice, bro. Lakers down 4-0. Golden State stole the lead in the fourth quarter. Iguodala attacking off the drive. Good finish. Carmelo. I like this late-game lineup. A lot of people wonder, would Carmelo be in late-game? It looks like they're going to stick with him late-game, especially if he can make shots. Villeliza. Good move. Way to shed the defender and the NBA is allowing these guys to play, y'all. I love it. Good driving kick. Way to make the shot. And this Avey Bradley. How did Golden State let this man go? How did Golden... What do y'all think Golden State was thinking when they let Avey Bradley go, y'all? I don't understand that move. It didn't make sense to me. Steph Curry. Pull up three. Cannot sag on this team. These Warriors look like they're coming back for vengeance this year. Bradley. Bradley coming back. Bradley's making the Warriors pay for releasing him. I thought... Steph Curry and Draymond Green were... said, let's keep this man on the roster. 106-101. Golden State looks to expand on the lead. Wiggins with the layup. Puts them up 108-101. LeBron, another iso. How many... Hold on, y'all. Hold on. See, this is the problem that I see for the Lakers. This is something that they're going to have to work out as they build more chemistry. It seems like every bucket that I've seen in this highlight, the Lakers are scoring just based on iso plays. They're taking tough shots out of the iso sets. No ball movement. No motion. Doesn't look like a lot of guys are getting involved. I do see a few driving kicks when guys get in trouble, but unlike the Golden State offense, I don't see a lot of fluidity what they're doing. I think for guys like Malik Monk, Kendrick Nunn, when he's back. Art Taylor, Horton Tucker. They need to find some fluidity in their offense if they want to have long-term success. How can they do that? Frank Vogel has clearly struggled with offense doing his tenure with the Lakers. This is something that he needs to work to correct now. We see the flaws in his offensive scheme right now. LeBron is making shots tonight. You can't expect that on a night-in and night-out basis. In what ways can you get him in an open court where he can become the most elite facilitator on the floor and then play out of that? But when LeBron James has to take this much of the scoring load, it's never good for the Lakers, man. Let's go ahead and get back to this. Look like the Warriors are pulling away right here with under three minutes to go. Good ball fake. Kicks it out for the three. In a ball movement, the fluidity of the Warriors' offense is just giving the Lakers problems. LeBron with another three. But again, these are bell-out shots. Another ISO set right here. No fluidity. Tough shot, and they're just making tough shots. This is not championship-level basketball. As we see, Warriors win. 121. 114. Hey, and there we have it right there. Warriors win this one on the road. On the road. 121-114. Golden State had a crazy fourth quarter. This team dropped 38 points in the fourth quarter. 30 in the third quarter. 38 points in the fourth quarter. 30 in the third quarter. When teams are scoring that many points in any individual quarter, something's not right with your defense. And the Lakers' defense completely broke down in the fourth, where they only scored 29 points. They only scored 26 in the third. And they allow, they allow a combined 68 points in the second half of this game. We're going to get to the Lakers' stats, man. We got 33 from AD, 15 to 26. I mean, great game from AD. You're talking about 33 points, 11 rebounds. This is what you expect out of AD. LeBron James, again, great game out of LeBron James. 34 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists. I wanted to see a bit more facilitating out of him. He needs to be the one to activate some of these other guys, like Westbrook, like Carmelo Anthony, like Dwight Howard. He needs to be the facilitator that gets those guys going. When LeBron James has to be the best, one of the better scorers on the team, you're going to see them struggle. He needs to score more so at a transition and just through the flow of the offense. As I showed you guys on multiple plays, there's no fluidity to their offense. But LeBron James, great game, 37 minutes, 34 points, 13 to 20 from the field. You talk about highly efficient, 11 rebounds himself, but the playmaker wasn't there. He was a minus 2 on the night. Noah, the Lakers were in double figures, right? Baysmore, 31 minutes, only 8 points. Westbrook, disappointing game for Westbrook, shot poorly from the field. 0 of 4 from the three-point line, 4 of 13. He's going to have to find his way. 8 points for a guy like Russell Westbrook. It looks like there's going to be an adjustment period for Russell Westbrook. I was one of the people that believed Russell Westbrook's transition to this team would be seamless because of his basketball IQ, but it looks like the adjustment period, similar to his adjustment period in Washington, is going to take a couple months. 4 of 13 from the field, 0 of 4 from the three-point line. We don't see the stellar numbers that he was putting up. Only 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and just 8 points in 35 minutes of action. Westbrook completely disappeared. We go to the bench, Carmelo Anthony with 9 points in 26 minutes, and then we have Rondo with 3 points in 20 minutes. Malik Monk also chipped in 6 in 19 minutes of action, but the team, the team of the night, we got to get to the Warriors, man. We got to get to the Warriors. Warriors on the night, much more balanced attack. I mean, the Warriors played, the Warriors literally played 10 players tonight, went deep into the bench. You're talking about Draymond Green, solid night, kind of quiet with regards to the stat line, but his defense was there. 6.6 assists, 8 rebounds, 5 turnovers though. That's something he's got to be mindful of. Wiggins, quiet game, but effective. 12 points. Looney, only 7 points. Steph Curry, 21 points on the night, but Curry had a 21-point triple-double, 10 assists, 10 rebounds. Remember to facilitate being able to get your other guys going. That's going to be key for these teams, especially early on. We got Jordan Poole. Jordan Poole started this game due to the injuries. 20 points on the night, 8-8 team from the field, 4-11 from the three. This man looks like he's primed to step in and make this team elite once Klay Thompson comes back because this man is making and taking shots with confidence. 20 points on the night, and he's giving them that second level of scoring that they were really missing last year. New dynamics. It's going to make it much harder for teams just to key in on Steph Curry. 15 points from Bayalika. Bayalika, again, he's going to be, that's going to be a quietly beautiful signing for the Warriors. A lot of people don't know this guy, but he's a great stretch big who can defend depending on the matchups, but he can stretch the floor offensively and make it tough for teams to pack the paint. Andre Iguodala, again, another great signing. 12 points on the night. He played 23 minutes, so he did manage his minutes. Damian Lee, another, again, great role player for this team. 15 points on the night, and 29 minutes of action. Moody got some time in the game. Obviously, Kamunga, he's dealing with that knee issue. James Wiseman, also dealing with, he's coming, he's trying to recover from that knee procedure. Otto Porter Jr., I think his defense kind of went unnoticed in this game because his stat line wasn't there. But, but Porter Jr., Porter Jr., 12 minutes on the night. I feel like his minutes are going to go up. But again, from the Warriors, impressive performance game one on the road against the Lakers. I want, guys, I want you to know, let me know what your thoughts are on this Los Angeles Lakers loss. They start the season, they lose their first game at home, a game where I feel like they control most of this game, going into the third, and then they allowed their defense to falter in the fourth quarter, allowing 38 fourth-quarter points. And this is not even a game where Steph Curry went ballistic. All right? I think this year we see Steph Curry scoring average drop, and they're going to allow other guys, like Jordan Poole, all right, like Moody and Kaminga when he's back, like Wiseman. I think we're going to see this spread around more. Now, again, I don't expect Wiggins to drop 12 a night. I expect bigger gains from him. But guys like Bayalika, Andre Iguodala, Damian Lee, Otto Porter, when they can spread the wealth like that, and again, when you sub these guys in, there's really no drop-off. There's really no major drop-off, and these guys are doing a great job so far of filling in for the injured players, and Klay Thompson, and James Wiseman. So kudos and salute to the Golden State Warriors pulling off game one win of the season. All right, 1-0. They win this tough game on the road. We're going to be following all of these teams closely. Definitely going to be following the Lakers. We really, I really am going to be interested in looking to see how Westbrook's transition, how he transitions into a new role, playing more off-ball. He struggled tonight. Will that trend continue? That's what we're going to be looking for as the Lakers look to find their first win of the season going into their next game. At this game, make sure you hit the comments up. Make sure you're spamming up the live chat right now. Let us know your thoughts about this game. Are the Lakers in trouble? Is this, was it a mistake bringing in Westbrook? Are you guys hitting the panic button on Westbrook already? Again, if you ask me, I would say definitely don't hit the panic button. Sometimes, we saw him take about a month or two to get acclimated to what they were doing in Washington. Then he had a very good season to help push them into the playoffs. Can he do the same thing here in LA? Can he do the same thing in LA? Can he adjust to this new role? That's going to be vital for this Laker team, if they look to get to the Western Conference Finals and contend for NBA championship. But the Golden State Warriors look great. I cannot wait to see what this team looks like when they are fully healthy. Hey, but it's FYF Sportsman. It's been another great podcast episode. This has been our first, our first game breakdown of the season. More of these to come. We're always going to feature a game, about four to five games a week. Feature games at a night and we're going to do these breakdowns. So make sure you guys, if you're new to the channel, hit the subscribe, right? Hit the subscribe, hit the notification bell, so you get all notifications when we go, when we go live, we have some great live stream and live debates or when we drop these podcast videos to keep you guys updated on what's going on in the sports world. Make sure you follow us on Instagram and Twitter as well. We are grinding to 30k. All your support to help us get there, the sharing and the liking of the videos. We definitely appreciate it. But it's FYF Sports. Another great podcast episode. We'll be back with more sports and news later. But until then, it's FYF Sports. We out. People don't make this big.