Life after LeBron starts with a rout: the new Lakers run Golden State off the floor

The first play said what the night would be. Luka Doncic drove past Draymond Green, drew the defence and tossed a lob to Walker Kessler, the marquee summer signing, for an alley oop dunk. Los Angeles kept running that film for three quarters on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena, beating the Golden State Warriors 127-105 in the season opener for both teams, the Lakers' first game since LeBron James left as a free agent for Philadelphia.

Golden State were in it for a half, mostly because Stephen Curry was. He scored 16 of the Warriors' first 21 points and 20 of his 23 before the break, yet the Lakers still closed the second quarter with a 17-4 run to lead 66-52, Doncic capping it with a bank shot from near halfcourt that gave him 23 points in 18 minutes. The third quarter settled it: Los Angeles outscored Golden State 36-16, stretched the lead to 102-68, held Curry to three points and watched him sit out the entire fourth.

Kessler's line is the one that will be quoted all week. Twenty six points on 12 of 12 shooting, nine rebounds, two blocks, and 10 dunks, the most by a Laker since Shaquille O'Neal in 2003 and, on ESPN's figures, the most by any player in the play by play era. He joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only Lakers ever to shoot a perfect night on at least 12 attempts. Doncic finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, Austin Reaves added 23, and a roster with nine new players looked, for one night, like it had played together for years.

The caveat is real and should be printed in the same size type. Golden State arrived depleted: no Brandin Podziemski, no Charles Bassey, and longer term absences for Moses Moody, Jimmy Butler and Kristaps Porzingis. Beating that version of the Warriors by 22 proves readiness, not supremacy, and the Lakers' defence against a full strength contender is a question this game never asked.

Our call is that the Doncic and Kessler pairing is the thing to take seriously, because a lob threat that automatic is not a hot shooting night, it is a structure. Every defence that faces it now has to choose between staying home on Kessler and giving Doncic the floater, or stepping up and feeding the dunk count. Structures travel across an 82 game season in a way opening night adrenaline does not. The post LeBron Lakers will have worse nights than this one, starting whenever the schedule stops sending them short handed guests. But they have an identity already, and it took them one evening to find it.