Golden State Warrior guard Stephen Curry (30) and his teammates knew this pre season game against the Los Angeles Lakers was a laugher at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Sat Oct 7, 2023 (@warriors photo)

By Barbara Mason

Fans got to see an incredible show from the Warrior bench scoring 91 points and finishing off the Los Angeles Lakers 125-108.

It all began Saturday night. The Golden State Warriors (1-0) played the first of five preseason games taking on the rival Los Angeles Lakers (0-1) at the Chase Center in San Francisco. In the absence of Draymond Green who missed the game due to an ankle injury, the Warriors got their first look at Chris Paul who started this game with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

Kevon Looney and Andrew Wiggins rounded out the starting roster. How Paul will fit in whether on the starting roster or on the bench will begin to be revealed. The solid play of Paul is a welcome addition to the Warriors.

Paul rarely turns the ball over and with 18 years in the NBA he is a master with 21,755 points scored and 11,501 assists. Paul has played for so long at such a high level, Golden State is lucky to have him onboard. The Warriors did not see the Lakers LeBron James in this pre-season opener but saw plenty of Anthony Davis. James plans on playing in about half of the Lakers pre-season games.

Post game recap: The first quarter was all Thompson and Davis. Thompson finished the quarter with eight points and Davis with nine. The Warriors got to see 6’10” Dario Saric and 20 yr-old Brandin Podziemski off the bench.

Jonathan Kuminga finished off the quarter with his own exciting brand of play with some marque blocks, rebounds and passes just a preview of what the Warriors will see from him this season. After the opening quarter the Warriors had a 29-23 lead.

Mid-way through the second quarter the Warriors had expanded the lead to 18 points with 6:05 left in the half. The Lakers made a run as the second quarter came to an end. They had erased the Warriors 18 point lead but still trailed at the half 61-54.

Both teams played hard in this pre-season opener. It was an amazing half for the Golden State bench scoring 27 points to the Lakers 10. The Warriors bench will want to be, once again, a weapon and if this first half was any indication they will indeed be a weapon.

Thompson was the only Warrior in double digits with 10. Both Davis and D’Angelo Russell had 15 points for the Lakers. The Warriors had 11 turnovers in the first half, not unexpected in this warm up to the regular season. Both teams played with such intensity in the half it looked nothing like a preseason matchup.

After three quarters Golden State led 95-83. The Warrior bench started the quarter extending their half time lead. This amazing bench had scored 64 points going into the fourth quarter. The Golden State starters had played just a little over a quarter in this game.

The Lakers bench player Cam Reddish left the court in the quarter with a turned ankle, something you hate to see especially in the preseason. The bench finished off the game with Kuminga scoring 24 points with eight rebounds.

Moses Moody had 15 and Podziemski with 11 points. All but three of the 13 bench players who took the floor scored finishing with 91 points. The bench stole the show.

This was of course the beginning of a very long 82-game season but it was a great showing by this Warrior bench. The starters played just a little over a quarter. There is more good news for the Warriors.

It appears right now that Green will be available for the first game of the 2023-24 season. This guy is a fighter and it is no surprise that he has healed in record time. Now it remains to be seen how this team will look going into the regular season.

How will they fare on the road? Last season they won 11 road games. They were 30th in turnovers and 30th in free throws. Shot selection was terrible at times. All of this has to change in a field with so many playoff contenders.

The second game of the preseason will tipoff next Friday October 13 at 7:00 PM in Los Angeles at Crypto.com Arena.