Golden State Warrior Draymond Green AP PHOTO
The young nucleus of the Los Angeles Lakers isn’t expected to make much of an impact this season, but it certainly made its presence felt over the weekend.
The team, which is composed of a few rugged veterans, unproven youngsters and a first-year head coach in Luke Walton, toyed with last year’s runner-up—the revamped team of the Golden State Warriors—in an improbable 117-97 wire-to-wire victory.
READ: Lakers stun Warriors, end Curry’s 3-point streak
After the 20-point drubbing, the normally brash Warriors’ forward Draymond Green had only nice things to say about their up-and-coming counterparts.
“They’re not bad anymore,” he said of the Lakers, according to Bleacher Report. “They’re hungry. Those guys are growing up.”
“That’s a young and hungry team with a new staff and they’re getting after it,” he added.
The Warriors’ head coach, Steve Kerr, meanwhile, described the blowout as their “annual beatdown at Staples.” The Dubs also lost a favorable match-up against LA in similar fashion last March.
Through the first six games of the season, the Lakers are sitting at the 7th place of the Western Conference standings with a 3-3 win-loss record.
Although it’s too early to say if it can achieve success this year, the team showed a vast improvement from last season when it took them until Dec. 2 to notch its third win. Khristian Ibarrola