The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Brooklyn Nets 129-126 on Monday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to record their first preseason win.

On his first preseason game, Austin Reaves wasted no time in making his team’s first basket with a pull-up three-pointer in transition. With a 7-0 run in response, the Nets were able to take the lead for a brief while. But D’Angelo Russell and the Lakers were able to respond with their own threes, giving them back control of the game.

Rui Hachimura scored five points in the first minute of the game to give Los Angeles a seven-point lead, but D’Angelo Russell started to shoot efficiently from the field and made many assured three-pointers. In spite of this, the Lakers started the second quarter down 35-34, while the Nets went on a run of their own to end the first quarter.

Anthony Davis began to make an impression early in the second quarter. He dribbled below the hoop for a reverse layup and followed it up with a block inside the paint. With better performance on both ends of the court, the Los Angeles Lakers took the lead for the first time by more than ten points of the game.

Jaxson Hayes added a layup of his own to put the score 19 points ahead of defense after Taurean Prince put the ball in the air and showed off some of his offensive ability. Brooklyn started the first half on an 8-0 run at the end, but Los Angeles’ superb long-range shooting allowed them to lead comfortably at the intermission, 75-61.

James, Davis, and Russell’s night ended when Darvin Ham decided to start the third quarter with Christian Wood, Gabe Vincent, and Hachimura in place of them. The absence of the Lakers’ main scoring sources gave the Nets the opportunity to mount a slow but consistent comeback and tie the game at 82 points apiece.

Even though Cam Thomas and Reaves traded baskets in the middle of the quarter, Los Angeles was able to take back the lead thanks to some more excellent long-range shooting. Wood decided to take matters into his own hands late in the third period, phoning his own phone in an aggressive manner. This directly translated into the purple and gold leading 110-102 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Lakers were able to maintain their lead despite playing with their bench players because their defense was playing at a higher level. Ham used more players from his bench and gave more playing time to his younger players, but his team was still able to maintain their lead of 120-112 points.

However, Maxwell Lewis did manage to chuck down a dazzling dunk that got the Las Vegas crowd up and roaring. Unfortunately, the rookies started to go cold from the field. In the latter minutes of the match, there was a lot of back-and-forth action, but Los Angeles was able to hold on for the victory.