The beginning of the Luka Doncic era with the Lakers couldn’t have been more promising.
The opening play set the tone for what turned out to be a convincing 127-105 victory over the Warriors at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night.
As the shot clock wound down, Doncic maneuvered past Draymond Green into the paint and threw a lob to Walker Kessler, the Lakers’ big offseason signing, who finished with an alley-oop dunk, putting the Lakers ahead early.
This moment, with the 7-foot-2 center scoring, became a frequent highlight throughout the game.
Kessler recorded 10 dunks in his debut with the Lakers.
This tally marked the most dunks by a Laker since Shaquille O’Neal in 2003, according to ESPN, and it was also the highest for any player since the league started keeping play-by-play statistics in the 1996-97 season.
Kessler also posted 26 points with a perfect shooting record, going 12-for-12, along with 9 rebounds and 2 blocks.
He joined Wilt Chamberlain as one of only two players in franchise history to achieve a perfect shooting night with at least 12 attempts, Chamberlain having scored 34 points on 14-for-14 shooting in 1969.
Doncic topped the Lakers’ score with 28 points, adding 8 rebounds and 7 assists. A bit of banter with Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg in the second quarter seemed to fire him up.
Austin Reaves complemented the effort with 23 points on 6-for-11 shooting, contributing 6 assists and 4 rebounds.
Although the Lakers allowed the Warriors to score 33 points in the first quarter, with Steph Curry netting nearly half of those (16 points), they adjusted their defense in the second and third quarters, limiting the Warriors to only 35 points combined during that stretch.
Curry concluded the game with a team-high 23 points but played just 21 minutes as the Lakers led by as much as 35 points early in the fourth quarter.
