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The Lakers and Nets kick off the first NBA preseason game for the league. Kendrick Nunn, Kent Bazemore, Talen Horton-Tucker, Anthony Davis and DeAndre Davis round out the Lakers’ starting XI today. Anthony Davis was the only star of both teams to dress, as he only played seven minutes in the first quarter. The Nets got away with this game in the fourth quarter, after the Lakers rested all of their regular rotation players, for the final score of 123-97. The Lakers face the Phoenix Suns Wednesday at 2 p.m. in Phoenix.
Here are four takeaways that stood out during the game.
The players who stood out
Horton-Tucker looked assertive to start the game, leading the team with Davis with six points apiece. That monstrous dunk he got in the first quarter was definitely the highlight of the game.
Malik Monk arrived with the second unit and proved to live up to his microwave moniker, starting 4-6 shots with 10 quick points. He played 21 minutes and finished with 15 points on 3-5 shots from the perimeter.
Dwight Howard only played 13 minutes, but showed what the Lakers were missing last year. His ability to own the paint gives other teams a headache to deal with, especially when Davis is on the pitch as well. He was at the height of his dirty tricks again, as he was whistled for a technical foul, after hitting his opponent in the face during boxing.
AD at the Five
Davis entered the game around 3:30 minutes in the first quarter to play all five. There has been a lot of talk about the Brow playing more center minutes over the summer, and it seems like that seems like a big point for him to look at from the start.
Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving was present with the Brooklyn Nets bench. He was with the team in San Diego during the last week of training camp. It has been well documented that he is not vaccinated and this can cause problems with vaccination mandates when playing home games. Opponents, especially the Lakers, will be watching this situation closely.
G-League
Rookie Austin Reaves entered the game to start the second quarter. The second half saw a lot of action for the next South Bay Lakers, as Joel Ayayi, Reaves, Chaundee Brown, Cameron Oliver and Matt McClung played the majority of the second half. After the Lakers reduced him to 3 after three quarters, the G-League side were outdone 24-2 in the opening six minutes of the fourth quarter.
Former Lakers champ Devontae Cacok has adapted for the Brooklyn Nets in perhaps his own revenge match. He played twelve minutes and scored nine points. He finished the match with the highest plus / minus of 23.
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