The Los Angeles Lakers dropped their season opener, 119-109, at home against the Golden State Warriors, a game in which LeBron James did not play. James is currently dealing with a nerve injury and is expect to be out at least four weeks. Lakers head coach JJ Redick admitted there were times during the game he wished he had James on the court, but at team practice the following day, Redick acknowledged James was an integral part of breaking down the loss, as per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
“LeBron was really helpful,” Redick said. “I told them him asking questions, him giving his input, us having a back-and-forth is so healthy. . .I would like to have dialogue and back-and-forth and questions every single time we do film and teach. You got a question, speak up. If you want to make a point, speak up. It was good.”
The Lakers’ season opener was the first time in his career that LeBron James had missed a season-opener. It had been 22 years straight that James had been available for his team’s opening night game. Without James, the Lakers sputtered to a loss, albeit only trailing by two points, 58-56, at halftime.
Following the game, Redick bemoaned the fact that the Lakers remain a poor third quarter team, a troubling trend that goes back to last season. They’ll have a couple of days to try and figure that out before their next game, Friday night at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
James appeared in 70 games for the Lakers last season at a little over 34 minutes per game. He averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 8.2 assists and 1.0 steals with splits of 51.3 percent shooting from the field, 37.6 percent shooting from the three-point line and 78.2 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
During the Lakers’ opening round playoff loss to the Wolves, James averaged 25.4 points, 9.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.8 blocked shots with splits of 48.9 percent shooting from the field, 35.7 percent shooting from the three-point line and 77.5 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
