The Lakers were able to win Game 1 against the Warriors despite struggling to score in the closing minutes. Here were the heroes who helped secure the win.
The much-anticipated matchup between the Lakers and Warriors lived up to the hype in Game 1, as the Lakers came away with a 117-112 win. This game had great pace and was a battle of new vs old-style basketball.
LeBron James struggled in this game but the rest of the Lakers were able to pick up the slack to take the first game on the road. The Lakers missed 10 straight shots in the final minutes of this game but had built enough of a lead that their defense could protect the margin.
Here are the Lakers biggest heroes from Game 1:
3. D’Angelo Russell
LeBron James would be a worthy candidate for any of these two next spots but he really struggled offensively in this game. Russell stepped up a lot in this game and played very well. He ended up with 19 points on 47 percent shooting from the floor. While he only ended up with 6 assists in this game, it really seemed like he was a huge part of the Lakers’ ability to move the ball around the court.
2. Dennis Schroder
On a night where the Lakers played an eight-man rotation (yes, Weyen Gabriel played minutes but he only played four minutes) Schroder was very key in this victory. He was able to control the floor very well and move the ball around the court.
He ended up with 19 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor. The Lakers were missing offensive production from LeBron James early on in this one, Schroder was one of the players who was able to step up and replace that offensive production.
Going forward, LeBron James will not play as badly as he did in this one but having Schroder and Russell step up helped the Lakers survive a down night from The King.
1. Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis had a very amazing game and was often the best player on the court. He ended up with 30 points on efficient 57 percent shooting from the floor. He was very solid on the defensive end as well, with 4 blocks. Davis also controlled the boards in this game — he had 23 rebounds, including four on the offensive glass.
Going forward in this series, Davis should continue to control the boards and allow the Lakers to have the advantage in rebounding. Kevin Looney will be able to get lots of rebounds in this series as well but Davis is the better way rebounding big man (obviously) and should feast against him and anyone else.
The Warriors will continue to control the pace in this series, but the Lakers can force them to one shot with Davis controlling the defensive glass as he did tonight. This will be a very good series that will go at least six games but the Lakers taking game one on the road bodes very well for them.
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