LeBron James looked like a boxer in the first round, throwing a few jabs but mostly just trying to get a feel for the flow of things. The Los Angeles Lakers looked like a team that had been largely thrown together this summer and were trying to figure out the dance steps with a new partner. There were good moments, and there were sloppy ones, particularly on defense.
Which is bad news against a Denver team that has a lot of continuity and makes even the good teams look bad sometimes with their elite offense.
The result was LeBron having 9 points on 2-of-6 shooting, plus three assists and rebounds each, and the Lakers falling to Denver in their preseason opener, 124-107. Above you can catch highlights of LeBron’s work for the night, but it did all seem a bit surreal. Including the chalk toss (or, at least a version of it).
Lakers’ LeBron James chalk toss pic.twitter.com/Aht8OmSdtm
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) October 1, 2018
You know it’s the preseason when JaVale McGee led the Lakers in scoring with 17 points (although he’s going to have a nice season just finishing around the rim with all the attention the other Lakers will get). Brandon Ingram looked good with 16 points.
Juancho Hernangomez led the Nuggets with 19 points off the bench, while Jamal Murray had 18.
