They were expected, not to judge their state of form but rather to say that, that’s it, the Lakers have launched their 2020-21 season. LeBron James and Anthony Davis played, as planned, very little, as planned, so we finally got a rough idea of what the title holders should look like this season.
18 minutes for Anthony Davis, 15 for LeBron James. It was announced, this Suns-Lakers would be especially for the magic duo an opportunity to get rid of after two months of hiatus, an opportunity also to discover together the Marc Gasol, Wes Matthews, Dennis Schroder or other Montrezl Harrell, last arrived under the angelino jersey. A major five of giraffes, with Schroder in the lead, LeBron in 2 (don’t be deluded too much Dennis), Kyle Kuzma in 3, and the AD / Gasol duo in the racket, and very quickly the two All-Stars prove that they have obviously lost nothing of their basketball since October. the automatisms between the two men are there, AD shoots above Jae Crowder as if he was a vulgar U15 under 1.80m, LeBron notices that Deandre Ayton only defends on half of his moves (Ayton also the author of a big game in attack), and Mikal Bridges realizes for his part that if he is an elite defender … there will always be at least one guy on whom we just cannot defend . The icing on the cake the King will meet the quarterback passes of Marc Gasol (touchdown for AD yesterday), remembering the fond memories of his years in Ohio with Kevin Love and his millimeter velvet throw. Finally 10 points and 4 rebounds for the big one, 11 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists for the bald man, anecdotal but always pleasant to see the two guys who have ridden in the NBA over the past twelve months.
A great opportunity to unwind as we said above, but also to take a little the temperature of the group on the floor, and first of all to see a little more closely the performances of the Californian sensation of this pre- season: Talen Horton-Tucker. Whoever tweeted one day about Delonte West and… LeBron James’ mother may have had a conversation with his boss but the fact remains that in the field he was still very enterprising that night. In the skin of the go-to-guy at each of his entries, THT still went there from his 18 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 against, to 7/11 in the shot to not spoil anything, and if we all know the relevance of the rotations in preseason, it is difficult to see today how Frank Vogel could not trust the sophomore relaying LeBron, Schroder and Caruso on position 1, or that of Kentavious Caldwell -Pope and Wes Matthews on station 2. Hey Quinn Cook, see him on the bench there? Well I hope you are well installed.
A five-point victory for the Lakers, raise your hand those who do not care, and therefore, above all, the launch this night of the season of the two Los Angeles aliens, the 18th of LeBron James by the way. A season in which the defending champions will be favorites to their own succession, with or without Talen Horton-Tucker in the rotation.
