Lakers reserves routed by Warriors in preseason finale

The Lakers did not play the near entirety of their expected nine-man rotation in their final preseason game against the Warriors and were blown out accordingly.

*On the second night of a back-to-back in their preseason finale, the Lakers sat Anthony Davis, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James, D’Angelo Russell, Gabe Vincent, Austin Reaves, Max Christie and Dalton Knecht...and played like a team without eight of its top nine players, losing handily to the Warriors, 132-74.

Quincy Olivari ended with 22 points, five rebounds and two assists. Bronny James Jr. pitched in with 17 points and four rebounds in his best showing of the preseason. Jaxson Hayes had seven points.

Los Angeles started well offensively, considering their entire starting five was out for the game. They jumped to a quick four-point lead. The Warriors answered by taking a six-point lead thanks to Jonathan Kuminga and Andrew Wiggins’ efforts.

Golden State took full advantage of the Lakers resting their key players. The Warriors went on a 13-0 scoring run and the young Lakers struggled mightily. At the end of the first, LA was down 18.

Los Angeles’ struggles continued into the second as they were down by 23. The Warriors were taking full advantage of LA not having the presence of AD defensively and were up to 28 points in the paint.

The rest of the half was a showcase for any young Laker to show off what they can do. Olivari took full advantage of the extra playing time by scoring from behind the arc and getting a few layups. Bronny got in on the action, connecting a 3-pointer and converting on a floater. At halftime, LA was down big with just 40 points scored and 66 conceded.

Bronny’s confident shooting continued well into the second half. He was the second player on the team to score in double figures after Olivari. Reddish, who was struggling to make shots, finally knocked down a three.

The rest of the game went just as expected, with the young guys trying to take advantage of the valuable minutes they had to end the preseason. Unfortunately, there were no real positives, minus Olivari and Bronny.

Key Takeaways:

Whether the Lakers decided to open up a spot for Olivari or he finds a spot on another team, he has proven worthy of a permanent contract. He’s played excellently with any opportunity he was given throughout the preseason.

Bronny was nailing shots that he had missed quite a lot since the Summer League. His confidence was at a high level.

The first game of the new season is on Tuesday against the Minnesota Timberwolves at 7:00 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.