The Golden State Warriors started the pre-season with a win against the Clippers and now they return to the Staples Center to take on Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. Don’t expect this game to be as intense, but will be entertaining to watch. Kobe Bryant is healthy and although the Lakers are not very good, he can still score at will. The Lakers have some nice young weapons, but the Warriors are simply the better team. While the outcome of the game isn’t necessarily important, it will good to see them perfect Steve Kerr’s offense. Check out what some of our writers had to say about tonight’s match-up:
1. Who will be the leading scorer of the game?
Rasheed Malek: Klay Thompson will be the leading scorer. He’ll be matched up on Kobe Bryant and look for Klay to come out aggressive. Klay playing in front of his hometown crowd should be shooting it early and often.
Danny Leroux: Stephen Curry. The Lakers are not exactly a defensive juggernaut at any position but their Point Guards are particularly notable as shaky defenders. In their opener, both Ty Lawson and Erick Green scored in double figures with plenty of shot attempts. I fully expect Curry to use his shaky performance from the field against the Clippers as motivation to have a stronger showing here.
Alex Torres: Klay Thompson, he’s playing his dad’s former team and everyone will be watching his match-up against Kobe Bryant. Two extremely competitive individuals will give the pre-season crowd their money’s worth. Expect a lot of shots from Thompson tonight, he will be looking to put on a show for his hometown crowd. I say he finishes with 22 points.
2. Which player from the second unit do you expect to perform well tonight?
Rasheed Malek: The easy answer is Draymond Green, however, I’ll go with Nemanja Nedovic. Nedovic had a solid showing vs the Clippers and will look to build off that vs the Lakers. Nedovic should have no trouble getting to the rim vs the Lakers as they don’t have any guard on the roster who can contain dribble penetration.
Danny Leroux: I really want to say Sheed’s favorite Wilt Kuzmic but Nemanja Nedovic makes the most sense for the reasons discussed above. Harrison Barnes could end up having a nice day as well but Euro Rose should have plenty of time guarded by some combination of Steve Nash and Jeremy Lin where he can use his substantial athletic superiority to get to the basket and hopefully the free throw line.
Alex Torres: I want to see more of the “Blur” tonight. He looked good against the Clippers and could be one of the steals of the off-season. He played well for Brazil in the FIBA World Cup and if he can ride that momentum into the season, he should be a regular off the bench. He’s no longer the lighting fast guard he once was, but he still has enough tank in the gas to get past people. I want to see how quick he looks against the Laker guards.
3. What would you like to see from the team on the defensive end?
Rasheed Malek: Want to see the bench unit rebound the ball better. Harrison Barnes in particular is someone who has spoke on wanting to become a better rebounder so it’s important to see if he can back those words up. Would also like to see less reaching on defense from Steph because the Warriors can’t afford to have him in foul trouble on a consistent basis.
Danny Leroux: Very few open three point attempts for the Lakers. A team giving heavy pre-season minutes to Wayne Ellington, Jordan Clarkson, and Wes Johnson will take plenty of threes so the real test will be the quality of the looks rather than the volume. While Mark Jackson’s Warriors teams did well defensively with and without elite talent, their biggest flaw was overactivity yielding wide-open looks. A team like the Lakers with relatively few dangerous one-on-one scoring talents makes for a good test of the potential differences between Jackson and Kerr on that end.
Alex Torres: The Warriors were a good defensive team last season, but with Steve Kerr now coaching the team, the emphasis is now on the offensive end. Will the Warriors take a step back on defense? Hopefully not, I would like to see them dominate the boards, especially against a team that’s not very good. Bogut is the man in the middle and as long as he’s on the floor, the Lakers should not get any easy buckets or second chance opportunities. If they can win the battle of the boards, the Warriors should continue to be a top defensive team.