SAN FRANCISCO — Anthony Davis cleaned up a LeBron James miss for the first score of the game. James got his first bucket to go — plus an and-1 free throw — a few minutes later to put the Los Angeles Lakers up 11-0 over the Golden State Warriors and L.A. rolled to a 123-101 win in their preseason opener Saturday.
Yes, there was a lot to like from the Lakers’ dynamic duo in their first taste of action together since L.A. acquired Davis, the six-time All-Star, in a blockbuster offseason trade in June.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel rested the pair the entire second half, but the two did plenty of damage before the break. Davis finished with 22 points on 9-for-16 shooting, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal. James had 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting, 8 assists, 3 rebounds and a steal.
In 18 minutes played apiece, James was a plus-14 and Anthony was a plus-13.
They looked so good together early on that Magic Johnson, who shocked the organization by resigning from his post in April, chimed in on Twitter to praise what he was witnessing.
Laker Nation, I just watched Lebron and Anthony Davis put on a show in the 1st quarter of the Lakers vs. Warriors exhibition game. Watch out rest of the NBA!
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) October 6, 2019
L.A. led by 13 after the first quarter, with Davis nearly matching the Warriors’ output himself: He went 7-for-11 for 17 points while the entire Golden State team was 9-for-27 for 20 points.
Davis had one 43-second stretch midway through the first that was so dominant, he scored on dunks on three consecutive possessions: the first following an offensive rebound, the next rolling to the rim off a pocket pass from James and finally by throwing down an alley-oop feed from Rajon Rondo to punctuate the flourish.
Vogel started Avery Bradley, Danny Green and JaVale McGee alongside James and Davis, vowing to continue to shuffle the first unit in L.A.’s five remaining preseason games.
“We’re going to mix it up every night throughout the preseason and potentially into the season,” Vogel said before the game. “The guys are going to have opportunities to start just to see different (combinations). The preseason is just about combinations.”
It was a pretty potent one-two combo between James and Davis on Saturday, to say the least.