Strength in Numbers fuel Warriors destruction of LeBron-less Lakers on Opening Night

Did you really want to trade Kuminga? DID YOU REALLY?!

The Golden State Warriors dismantled the Los Angeles Lakers 119-109 in a performance that carried echoes of that October 2021-2022 home opener when Golden State announced their return to championship contention against this same opponent. Same maddening ball movement. Same tough defense. Same inevitable conclusion: when the Dubs are right, you’re not beating them. You’re just watching them work. And last night we watched it live in the return of the NBA on NBC! Cue Roundball Rock.

The Barbershop execution

Here’s the thing about Golden State when they’re humming: defending them feels like sitting in a barber’s chair while the stylist keeps adjusting your head. Tilt left. No, tilt right. Hold still. Just a little more. Each instruction sounds reasonable until you realize you’re completely at the mercy of an artist who is turning your head into their a statement of their brilliance. True art!

That’s what the Warriors’ ball movement does to opposing defenses. The ball swings around the perimeter, creating new geometric puzzles with every rotation. Your defense has to be perfect, every rotation crisp, every closeout urgent, every communication instant. One mistake and the barber’s scissors find skin. The Lakers shot 54.5% from the field and scored 62 points in the paint, stats that would probably have guaranteed a win back when the NBA on NBC aired 30 years ago. Yet those poor LeBron-less Lakers spent most of the night chasing ghosts around the three-point line while Golden State calmly converted 17 triples on 42.5% shooting.

Honestly a team can defend everything the right way and still end up getting carved up because the Warriors are historically elite at making the extra pass. Or because someone cut at the perfect moment. Or because the geometry shifted one more time and suddenly Buddy Hield is wide open in the corner for his fifth three of the night. It takes dogged grit to stay connected to that kind of offensive ecosystem. It takes deep trust that your teammate will rotate when you commit to the help.

Winning the margins

But here’s what separates championship-level Warriors basketball from just good Warriors basketball: they beat you everywhere. Not just with shooting. Not just with passing. They win the dirty work too.

Four Warriors players under 6’9” grabbed at least five rebounds! Jonathan Kuminga snagged nine boards. Draymond Green pulled down seven. Brandin Podziemski grabbed seven. Even Jimmy Butler III, primarily a scoring guard, contributed five rebounds. When your undersized lineup is outrebounding teams on sheer effort and positioning, that’s when you know the engine is fully engaged.

The Warriors matched the Lakers 40-39 on the glass despite Los Angeles having the size advantage with Deandre Ayton and Rui Hachimura. Golden State grabbed nine offensive rebounds to LA’s seven, creating extra possessions that compound their offensive advantages. This is championship DNA. This is what it looks like when a team commits to the details that matter beyond the highlight reel.

You want to know why this version of Warriors basketball is so captivating? It’s the camaraderie. It’s the electric highlights. It’s the stingy defense and trash talking. But underneath all that flash and personality, it’s the inevitable grind. It’s the little things done consistently that break opponents before they realize they’re broken.

Kuminga fuels third quarter domination

If you’ve watched this team over the years, you know what Warriors third quarters feel like when they’re channeling their dynasty DNA. It’s not just a run. It’s a suffocation. It’s the moment when Golden State shifts from “we’re playing well” to “we’re ending this conversation right now.” The Dubs outscored the Lake Show 35-25 in the third frame, lighting them up from every angle. Check out their shot chart from the third!

Kuminga was the catalyst. His 3rd quarter rampage raised the Laker crowd’s anxiety to “wait I thought the Warriors didn’t want this guy how is he breaking our backs” levels of groaning.

Kuminga finished with 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting with four threes. He also added nine rebounds, and six assists. Those numbers don’t capture what actually happened on the court. What happened was a player who’s been marinating in Steve Kerr’s system for four years suddenly activating every athletic gift he possesses with the basketball IQ to match.

He’s not just a freak athlete anymore. He’s a freak athlete who knows when to attack, when to kick, when to relocate, when to cut.

When Kuminga dominated that third quarter, it felt like everything a Warriors fan could ask for. The athleticism was always there. The three-point shooting has arrived. The playmaking is emerging. This is the version of Jonathan Kuminga that makes the rest of the league nervous.

The inevitability of excellence

Now let’s get to the Big 3. Jimmy Butler III bullying his way to the rim for either a layup or a foul call? Been doing it his whole life. The man went 16-for-16 from the free throw line while putting up 31 points. That’s not luck. That’s not variance. That’s a player who understands how to weaponize his physical tools to create advantages that force defensive compromises. Every drive to the basket becomes a referendum on whether you want to give up the bucket or send him to the line. Pick your poison. Either way, he’s scoring.

Draymond Green delivering a nasty screen, catching the ball and firing it to the open man in a millisecond? That’s why he’s the offensive quarterback. Seven rebounds, nine assists, and a plus-20 in just 28 minutes. He doesn’t need to score 20 points to dominate a game. He just needs to see the floor two passes ahead of everyone else and make sure the ball finds the player with the best shot. Three assists shy of a double-double while orchestrating an offense that generated 29 assists on 38 made field goals. That’s mastery.

And Stephen Curry nailing a backbreaking shot with an extreme high degree of difficulty? LOL, it’s as common as putting the kids to bed. He tallied twenty-three points and went a stellar 8-of-8 from the free throw line. The man hit difficult shots that would be highlight-reel material for anyone else, and for Steph, it’s just Tuesday. The Lakers had to account for him on every possession, which opened up everything else. But when it came to silence the Lakers late rally once and for all, Mr. Nyquil delivered: Night night.

Luka’s magnificent futility

Meanwhile, Luka Doncic was out there performing a one-man clinic in offensive excellence that ultimately didn’t matter. Forty-three points on 17-of-27 shooting. The full repertoire of crafty dribbles, elite body control, and scoring creativity was on display. He scratched and clawed his way to buckets using every trick in the manual, adding 12 rebounds and nine assists for good measure.

And it didn’t matter.

That’s not a criticism of Luka, who was genuinely brilliant. It’s a testament to how the Warriors win when they’re operating at this level. One guy can dominate the ball, put up video game numbers, and still lose by ten because Golden State’s offense creates advantages that compound. Luka scored 43 and the Lakers still lost by double digits because the Warriors had six players score in double figures while moving the ball with purpose and precision.

Aside from a few ragged minutes midway through the fourth quarter when things got temporarily interesting, this game was never really in doubt. The Warriors led by as many as 17, and every time the Lakers showed signs of life, Golden State had an answer. That’s dynasty muscle memory. That’s championship poise.

The synergetic glee

And Buddy Hield. Sweet mercy, Buddy Hield.

Five threes on ten attempts! Seventeen points in 22 minutes! Plus-5 in a game the Warriors won by 10. This is what happens when a pure shooter gets plugged into an offensive ecosystem designed to maximize his exact skill set. Hield isn’t creating these looks off the dribble or bullying his way to buckets. He’s floating through the architecture of Kerr’s motion offense, finding pockets of space that exist for exactly 0.7 seconds, and cashing checks before the defense can rotate.

That Golden State ball movement turns Hield from a very good shooter into a flamethrower who can nuke your defensive scheme in three possessions. You can feel it building with each extra pass, each perfectly timed cut, each selfless decision that leads to an even better shot.

Brandin Podziemski grabbed seven rebounds, hitting a three, and playing solid two-way basketball. Quinten Post and Al Horford contributed quality minutes off the bench. Will Richard chipped in five points. This is depth. This is what happens when everyone understands their role and executes it with conviction.

As I said to begin this piece, the 2021-22 season began with a similar dismantling of the Lakers at Chase Center, a 121-114 victory that announced the Warriors’ return to championship contention. That team went on to win it all. This performance, with its suffocating three-point barrage, beautiful ball movement, and commitment to winning every margin, carries the same energy. The same cohesion and the same sense that something special is brewing.

When Golden State plays like this, with every possession a geometric puzzle that ends in either an open three or a layup, with undersized players crashing the glass, with defensive intensity that forces 20 turnovers, they don’t just beat you. They remind you why you feared them in the first place.

The barber’s chair awaits the rest of the league. Tilt your head left. No, right. Hold still. The Warriors are just getting started, and the cut is coming whether you’re ready or not.