Lakers vs Warriors Preseason Preview and Game Thread: One last game before the official season

The Lakers look to end their preseason on a strong note in San Francisco before the regular season officially commences.

The Lakers will conclude their preseason stint with a game against Golden State where they take on the Warriors on the second night of a back-to-back. The purple and gold aim to finish their preseason stint with a feel-good, two-game winning streak.

Start time and TV schedule

Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Golden State Warriors

When: 7:30 p.m. PT, Oct 18

Where: Chase Center

Watch: Spectrum SportsNet

The Lakers played their best half of the preseason in Thursday’s victory against the Suns: Anthony Davis had four threes alone in the first quarter, Austin Reaves aggressively created his own shot and found his rhythm, the team’s overall defense was mostly present and the energy was turned up compared to the first four games.

This game was supposedly considered a dress rehearsal, but it’s still hard to fully assess the team without LeBron James and Rui Hachimura. James will reportedly no longer play for the remainder of the preseason, so that’ll give the four-time champion a week of rest before the first game of the regular season,

Since James is likely out again on Friday, this is the perfect opportunity for the Lakers to see how they survive without him which, in fairness, they did well last season. L.A. had a 6-5 record when James sat out and, based on how they performed against the Suns on Wednesday, it seems they’re built to get through games without him again.

Speaking of getting through games, the ideal scenario after Friday’s game against the Warriors is that everyone stays healthy. That alone should be a priority. Then, it’ll be nice to see the likes of D’Angelo Russell, Reaves and Cam Reddish continue to build their rhythm.

Perhaps ahead of Friday’s game, JJ Redick is going to emphasize transition defense because boy, did the Lakers painfully get beat on that (22-13) against the Suns after being outscored 21-0 in the first half. Rebounds should also continue to be a point of emphasis as the Lakers lost (55-50) on that end against the Warriors last time, especially when the starters were in.

This game will also most likely feature the G-League guys because there’s no point in AD, who clocked in 33 minutes on Thursday, to play heavy minutes again. Same goes with the rest of the starters.

So this affair will most likely feature Thursday’s Laker hero Dalton Knecht and a lot of Jalen Hood-Schifino, Bronny James, Maxwell Lewis, Quincy Olivari and co.

Let’s see if they can give the Lakers at least one more victory before on Friday before the regular season officially commences.

Notes and Updates

• As mentioned above, LeBron (old) will most likely not play in this one as well as Jarred Vanderbilt (foot surgery), Christian Wood (knee surgery) and Christian Koloko (not cleared by NBA protocols).
• Fun fact: After his heroic performance against the Suns, Dalton Knecht ranks second in 3-pointers made this preseason.
• We will be live on Playback for this game, so be sure to join us!

You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.