Anthony Davis and Lakers present their grit in win over Warriors

SAN FRANCISCO — 

You can flip the web page — but when the primary characters are the identical, the story can solely change a lot.

That’s the problem the Lakers face, a problem starting Saturday at Golden State, when three new gamers debuted, however a key plot level remained the identical.

One of the group’s stars — this time LeBron James — was sidelined, a difficulty the Lakers have endured an excessive amount of with James and Anthony Davis over the previous two-plus seasons.

The Lakers survived a gradual evening from Davis, with Dennis Schröder main 5 gamers in double figures in a 109-103 win over the Golden State Warriors.

Schröder had 26, Rui Hachimura scored 16, D’Angelo Russell scored 15 and Jarred Vanderbilt had 12 and eight rebounds.

And whereas Davis struggled offensively — capturing simply 5 of 19 for 13 factors — he grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked three pictures, together with two late, within the win.

The win snapped a three-game shedding streak.

James missed his second-straight recreation after setting the NBA’s all-time main report, soreness in his foot and ankle too vital for him to begin placing distance between himself and Kareem-Abdul Jabbar.

Both coach Darvin Ham and normal supervisor Rob Pelinka, who addressed the media Saturday for the primary time because the NBA commerce deadline, stated imaging on James’ foot didn’t present injury.

Asked whether or not the group would thought-about shutting James down upfront of the All-Star break, Ham stated he didn’t assume James would “allow us to do that.”

“His foot, we have to follow the lead of it, based on how it’s feeling, have him ramp up in some workouts and see how it responds,” Ham stated.

Time, although, is operating out on the Lakers as they attempt to race up the hill they created after starting the yr 2-10.

Saturday, Russell was the one newcomer beginning, opening with Schröder, Rui Hachimura, Davis and Troy Brown Jr. Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley have been each in Ham’s second unit, whereas Mo Bamba served the ultimate recreation of his three-game suspension.

Along with Hachimura and Davon Reed, the brand new acquisitions characterize the entrance workplace’s makes an attempt to change the make-up of this group (and ones probably sooner or later).

“I think the trade deadline approach is really months of work by a lot of people in the front office, lots of scenario-running and deep dives and lots of studying film and cap-planning, and we had a lot of work going into this,” Pelinka stated. “There were multiple paths we could take. All of this was strategically thought-out as this unfolded. But we’re really pleased with where things landed. I think going into the trade deadline, really wanted to address shooting and spacing and more wing depth and size in general.”

The Lakers additionally have been in a position to keep flexibility — Russell is a free agent, Beasley’s contract comes with a group possibility and Bamba’s contract subsequent season isn’t assured.

Pelinka particularly stated the group doesn’t view Russell as a “rental.”

“You can almost look at it as ‘pre-agency,’” he stated. “If you really study the contracts of these five players, we very intentionally planned these moves to provide optionality in July.

“…I think it really is an exciting time, I think, for Laker Nation. Just to think about the fact that we have these five young players, 26 and younger, that you can see how even those five guys fit really well around our captains of LeBron and Anthony Davis. So not only does it set us up for hopefully a productive run now, but… it gives us a core to look at going into next year that is very exciting.”

Pelinka stated James and Davis “were both in favor of the deals that we made” and so they “felt good about the moves.”

Saturday, for the primary time in a while, the Lakers might all be ok with the outcomes.