LeBron James, Anthony Davis Dominate in Lakers Win vs. Stephen Curry, Warriors

The Los Angeles Lakers spoiled the Golden State Warriors' Chase Center debut with a 123-101 preseason win in San Francisco on Saturday.

The game marked the Lakers' introduction of six-time All-Star Anthony Davis, whom L.A. acquired from the New Orleans Pelicans in an offseason trade.

The Warriors also welcomed D'Angelo Russell into the mix after a sign-and-trade with the Brooklyn Nets.

L.A. led 33-20 after one quarter behind LeBron James and Davis' fantastic performances and held an eight-point halftime lead.

After the intermission, the rest of the Lakers took over as James and Davis rested. L.A. outscored Golden State 32-20 in the third quarter en route to the 22-point win.

Notable Performances

LAL G/F LeBron James: 15 points (5-of-10 shooting), eight assists, three rebounds in 18 minutes

LAL F/C Anthony Davis: 22 points (9-of-16 shooting), 10 rebounds, two assists in 18 minutes

LAL C JaVale McGee: 10 points (5-of-5 shooting), 13 rebounds in 17 minutes

LAL G Alex Caruso: 10 points (2-of-5 shooting), six assists, three rebounds in 20 minutes

GSW PG Stephen Curry: 18 points (5-of-11 shooting), three rebounds, two assists in 18 minutes

GSW F/C Draymond Green: zero points (0-of-3 shooting), seven rebounds, four assists in 17 minutes

GSW G D'Angelo Russell: four points (2-of-9 shooting), two rebounds in 18 minutes

GSW G Jordan Poole: 17 points (5-of-11 shooting) in 23 minutes

LeBron James-Anthony Davis Duo Provides Great Early Returns

Sure, the Lakers are officially one preseason game into their 2019-20 campaign, but if Saturday is any indication, then James and Davis are about to become a near-unstoppable duo.

Davis had 22 points and nine rebounds at the half, and James provided 15 points and eight dimes.

Davis, in particular, got very positive reviews:

Those were inevitable given his night in the paint:

James also imposed his will in the first half, scoring whenever he wanted and largely finding an open Davis otherwise:

After watching James, Basketball Hall of Famer and ex-Lakers great Magic Johnson set high expectations for the King:

Their massive production let their teammates simply fill their roles: Dwight Howard grabbed boards, Rajon Rondo was an extra facilitator, Danny Green hit threes and played defense, and JaVale McGee continued being a remarkably efficient scoring and rebounding machine down low.

Lakers reporter Mike Trudell gave the starting unit high marks in particular:

Most impressively, the Lakers excelled without Kyle Kuzma, who is currently recovering from a stress reaction in his left ankle and finished second on the team in scoring last year. He is expected to be the Lakers' tertiary scoring option behind James and Davis.

Kuzma is capable of scoring 20-plus points a night if he can improve upon a three-point shot that only landed 30.3 percent of the time last year. It helps that he's only 24 years old and entering his third NBA season, so there's clearly room for offensive development.

Ultimately, the Lakers have the look of a franchise that will meet expectations after fielding numerous teams this decade that failed to do so.

With James and Davis acting as the team's jacks-of-all-trades and the rest of their teammates focused on doing their jobs, the Lakers should be firing on all cylinders.

Shorthanded Warriors' Struggles Should Be Taken with Grain of Salt

The Warriors played Saturday without projected starting center Willie Cauley-Stein, backup big man and key rotation piece Kevon Looney and backup guard Alec Burks.

Sans Cauley-Stein and Looney, the Warriors had significant issues down low. Los Angeles crushed the Warriors on the boards (58-47) and in the paint (66-36), facts most evident by this Davis offensive rebound and dunk:

The first quarter was particularly ugly, with Anthony Slater of The Athletic summing up the start fairly:

Russell also struggled in his Warriors debut, shooting 2-of-9. The rest of the Warriors struggled from the field, though, making just 39.3 percent of their field goals and 11 of 42 three-pointers.

Growing pains are expected for a team that lost Kevin Durant to the Brooklyn Nets, traded Andre Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlies and will be without shooting guard Klay Thompson as he recovers from a torn ACL.

A roster upheaval has taken place, with Russell now playing the 2, Cauley-Stein manning the 5 and Alfonzo McKinnie handling small forward.

It also didn't help that the Warriors got a rough draw against a Lakers team expected to contend for a title, one which has a four-time NBA MVP sharing point guard duties and a three-time All-NBA player dominating down low.

Certainly, there are questions about this team moving forward, with Mark Medina of the Bay Area News Group throwing one out there:

The preseason opener may not have gone the Warriors' way, but it's a long year and Golden State has plenty of time to figure things out.

At the very least, it helps to have a three-time NBA champion head coach in Steve Kerr, a two-time NBA MVP in Curry and the game's best Swiss Army knife in Draymond Green.

What's Next?

The Lakers will host the Brooklyn Nets in Shanghai on Thursday at 7:30 a.m. ET. The Warriors will stay in town to play the Minnesota Timberwolves on the same day at 10:30 p.m.