Lakers lose first game in California Classic to Warriors

Lakers lose steam in the second half leading to their first loss in Summer League action against the Golden State Warriors.

After a strong first half, a poor start to the third quarter doomed the Lakers in their Summer League opener at the California Classic as they fell to the Warriors 89-84.

Dalton Knecht struggled all game long, finishing with 10 points on 3-13 shooting. Bronny James did not suit up for the game.

Cole Swider led the team in scoring with 24 points to go with eight rebounds. DJ Steward had an impressive showing with 20 points. DaJuan Gordon pitched in with seven points. Darius Bazley scored 10 points.

After the Warriors struck first, Los Angeles responded with a 9-0 run to open the California Classic. Steward was an early standout, scoring six points. Dalton, meanwhile, missed his first three shot attempts.

Cole, a familiar face on the Lakers once more, drained a 3-pointer. The Lakers kept the lead throughout the quarter, played great defense and made the Warriors work extra hard for their looks. LA was up eight at the end of the first.

The Lakers continued their strong defense well into the second. DJ scored eight more points and became the first player for either team to reach double figures.

Dalton’s rough first half only got worse as he couldn’t connect on his shots. DaJuan, however, was another standout, going 3-4 from the field for seven points. Cole scored on another 3-pointer, continuing to show off his sharp-shooting skills.

At halftime, the purple and gold were up four.

Golden State started the second half on a 7-0 run with Chris Manon scoring four of those points for the Warriors. Cole drained another 3-pointer that put a small stop to the bleeding. The Lakers played from behind for the entire quarter. They lost all the steam they had in the first half. There were small spurts of good defense.

Isaiah Mobley was a big standout for Golden State and he was the second player in the game in double figures with 11 points. Darius had a few deflections and looked good on the defensive end for LA. Still, at the end of the third, Los Angeles was down nine.

The start of the final frame saw Golden State continuing to look good while Los Angeles continued to struggle. Dalton finally scored some more points off an emphatic dunk and free throws. Darius became the third player on the Lakers to score in double figures for the game. The young LA squad started to kick it up a notch as the fourth was winding down, with Cole and Dalton shouldering the offensive load.

It shrunk down to a five-point game with a momentum shift in favor of the Lakers, but five more points from Golden State made it an eight-point game with 39 seconds left, putting the final dagger in any comeback attempt.

Key Takeaways:

Dalton kicked it up more in the fourth quarter, but overall, it wasn’t a good night.

It’s good to see Darius out there. He looked pretty good and brought toughness on the defensive end.

DJ is a solid player; he’s going to be a major contributor to this Summer League squad.

Catch the next California Classic game on Sunday against the Miami Heat at 1:30 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.