The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors 127-105 in Wednesday’s season opener at Crypto.com Arena. In the aftermath of the defeat, Draymond Green spoke about the Warriors defense’s struggles against Luka Dončić and co.
Green’s focus was point-of-attack defense, the first defender’s job of keeping a ball-handler out of the lane. The Warriors get their next test tonight, when they host the Memphis Grizzlies in their home opener at Chase Center.
Draymond Green Puts Point-of-Attack Defense on the Whole Roster
On “The Draymond Green Show,” the Warriors forward started with how far the problem reached. “Like I said in my press conference, our point of attack-defense has to be better, and that’s one through 15, you know.”
“I think there was some point throughout the game where Luka Dončić or Austin Reaves or even Matisse Thybulle against close-outs guarding the ball one-on-one. I think there was some point in the game where all of us got drove past. And that just can’t happen and you be a great, successful defense if you can’t contain dribble penetration.”
Dončić led the Lakers with 28 points, hitting 5-of-12 from three. Austin Reaves added 23. The pair went a combined 19-of-19 at the free-throw line and handed out 13 assists. Green’s list also included Matisse Thybulle, who started and scored three points on 1-of-4 shooting.
Green then laid out what those drives cost the Warriors. “We did not do a great job of that and ultimately it led to threes. It led to dunks. There’s no help for a straight line drive and so we have to be better at the point of attack defense and that’ll allow us to set up the rest of our defense, but we have to be better there.”
The Lakers committed 18 turnovers and came away with 15 steals, but the Lakers shot 57% from the field, went 11-of-28 from three and scored 66 points in the paint, along with 21 fast-break points. Walker Kessler finished 12-of-12 from the field for 26 points.
The Warriors trailed only 34-33 after the first quarter. They were then outscored 68-35 over the next two, fell behind by as many as 35 and won the fourth 37-25.
Green finished with two points on 1-of-4 shooting, 4 rebounds, a team-high 8 assists, a steal, a block, 3 fouls and 4 turnovers. He was minus-22 in 21 minutes.
Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg, a starter in his NBA debut, drew time on the ball against Dončić and picked him up full court.
Lendeborg forced 2 turnovers, according to NBC Sports Bay Area, citing NBA tracking data. Lendeborg finished with 4 fouls and a minus-21 in 29 minutes.
The Warriors are 0-1 going into tonight’s 10 p.m. ET tipoff against Memphis. Next come road games against the Phoenix Suns on Saturday, the Denver Nuggets on Monday and the Minnesota Timberwolves on Oct. 28.
Then Dončić, Reaves and the Lakers visit Chase Center on Oct. 30, the Warriors’ first look at the ball-handlers Green named since the opener.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.