Los Angeles Lakers basketball is back! On Saturday night, they went to play the Golden State Warriors in the first game of the preseason.

Both teams had some new players, but the key players didn’t play as much during the regular season. The Lakers lost this game to the Warriors 125–108, though, and they could have done much better.

The Lakers were missing two important players in LeBron James and Austin Reaves. This meant that Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell, and Gabe Vincent had to start with Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent. The Warriors also played their first game with their new team. Chris Paul and Stephen Curry played together in the backcourt, and Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, and Kevon Looney played in the frontcourt while Draymond Green recovered from an ankle injury.

Because Golden State isn’t very big, Davis got off to a fast start for L.A. on both ends of the court, just like he did against them in the playoffs last year. Klay Thompson also got hot early, and by the end of the first quarter, the Warriors were ahead 29–23.

The Lakers were missing two players, so it was no surprise that their second unit had a tough start to the second quarter. The Warriors increased their lead to 10 points, even though Davis made back-to-back 3-pointers. They then grew it to 50-32 as the Lakers stopped making shots from the field. Davis and Russell scored 26 of L.A.’s first 32 points together.

The Lakers started to cut into that lead after the break. Russell hit an alley-oop with Jaxson Hayes and then a three-pointer with Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt made another three to get the score back to ten points, and Russell added to the cause to make it 61–54 for the Lakers at the break.

After Davis and Russell had great first halves, Darvin Ham chose to sit them both for the second half. Instead, Christian Wood and Max Christie started the third quarter in their place. Also, the Warriors didn’t play their stars in the second half. This gave other players on both teams a chance to play important minutes.

Hachimura, Vincent, and Christie all made the most of that time for Los Angeles by making shots from beyond the arc. However, the Warriors also stayed hot from beyond the arc. Christie showed what he could do with some good two-way play in the third quarter, but the Lakers lost focus and started the fourth quarter behind 95–83.

Injury is the one thing you want to avoid at all times during the preseason. Unfortunately, Cam Reddish hurt his ankle early in the fourth quarter, ending his night.

A lot of players didn’t play because Reddish got hurt and Taurean Prince fouled out. This let the Lakers’ young players, including Christie, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Maxwell Lewis, Colin Castleton, and D’Moi Hodge, get some run to finish the game. As expected, they looked beat as the Warriors grew their lead to finish off a simple win.