The Los Angeles Lakers (2-11) will take on the Golden State Warriors (15-0) at the Oracle Arena in Oakland on Tuesday, as the Warriors will try to put their names in the record books. Now tied with the 1993-94 Rockets and 48-49 Washington Capitols for the best start in NBA history, Golden State can move into a class all its own with one more win.
The Warriors are playing at an all-time high level and it’s hard to compare them to any team of the past at this point. There’s never been a team who plays so up-tempo and shoots the lights out like this team does. First in offensive efficiency, fifth defensively, the Dubs are outscoring their opponents by 14.4 points a game so far.
The team’s fantastic play has to be credited to Steph Curry, who is simply on another planet right now. Curry is averaging 32.7 points, 5.7 assists, 5.2 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game this season.
The Lakers have struggled this season, at 2-11, and they’re walking straight into a buzzsaw on Tuesday in Golden State. This is a nightmare scenario, considering how bad the Lakers defense has been this season with the amazing shooting of the Warriors.
The Lakers currently rank 27th in points allowed this season and that’s actually an improvement from last week. One bright spot for the Lakers is the recent play of rookie D’Angelo Russell, who is averaging 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists over his last two games. Los Angeles is looking for this rookie to start playing better and improve, so the fans can have something to hope for with a dim light at the end of the tunnel.
Much has been made about the Warriors’ small-ball lineup, which the Lakers should expect to see a great deal of today.
The Warriors are 15-0, and their starting lineup isn’t even the best five-man unit on the team. According to the advanced statistics, that honor would fall on the Warriors’ small-ball group of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green. In 56 minutes together this season, that lineup has outscored the opposition 200-119, by far the best point differential of any five-man lineup in the NBA this season. It’s only the fourth-most used lineup Luke Walton has utilized this season, but he’s typically reserved deploying it until the game’s most critical moments, and they’ve delivered every time.
n the season, they’re shooting a combined 64.6 percent from the field, 66.0 percent from three-point land and 84.9 percent from the free throw line, and have posted the best offensive (160.9) and fifth-best defensive (90.0) ratings of any five-man lineup in the NBA. Each member of the small ball unit is capable of “sliding up” and guarding a bigger position on the defensive end, while creating a mismatch on offense due to their shooting and quickness advantages. Although they may be small in name, they’re big-time producers when together on the court, and so far Walton’s ace in the hole has trumped everything else it’s played against.
