The first time the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers met this preseason, the Purple and Gold were playing without Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler, among others.
They might have all of them playing for Tuesday's rematch.
Kessler has been out witih a finger injury, but he practiced in full on Sunday, which suggests he's nearing a return. Doncic and Reaves played in the Lakers' last preseason game, which a 114-110 win over the Kings.
In the Warriors' first matchup against the Lakers, Yaxel Lendeborg had 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting. How he plays against a better Lakers unit is the first of three storylines I'll be focused on.
Lendeborg's Biggest Preseason Test on Both Ends
Overall his last two games, Lendeborg has 40 points on 17-of-25 shooting. But in both games, the level of competition was pretty low, and there wasn't much rim protection.
Both should change Tuesday.
Kessler is one of the best rim protectors in the league. If he's active, it will be interesting to see if Lendeborg is as aggressive driving to the basket and if he chooses to challenge Kessler or pass the ball.
On the defensive end, Lendeborg will be challenged more than before by Doncic and Reaves. Lendeborg isn't likely to be matched up with either, but the Lakers will likely try to get him switched onto one of the two guards so that they can attack him.
This will be a major test for the starting lineup Steve Kerr is "leaning toward" going with for the regular-season opener.
The starting lineup—featuring Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Gui Santos, Lendeborg and Draymond Green—will likely have some point-of-attack issues on defense.
Putting up at least some resistance Tuesday would be a great sign, though.
How Curry Looks with Extended Minutes
Curry has yet to play in the second half of a preseason game, but that will change Tuesday. Kerr said Curry will play a stint of the second half to get his total minutes up to 20-22.
Curry is one of the NBA's best conditioned players, so there's no reason to think he'll struggle with 20-22 minutes.
But he is a 38-year-old coming off a season in which he missed 39 games mostly due to runner's knee.
The Warriors have been limiting how much wear and tear Curry is putting on himself this preseason.
Could that lead to a slower start in the regular season? We shall see, but the best clue we'll get might be how much force he's playing with in the third quarter against the Lakers.
Turnover Watch
The Warriors' five-out offense has mostly looked pretty good over the last three games, but the one major issue has been turnovers.
Overall, the Warriors' turnover total per game is as follows: 16, 23, 19, 21.
Their biggest culprit has been Brandon Williams, who has 14 in 68 preseason minutes.
Kerr has already named Williams the team's backup point guard, but Kerr also implied that the key to Williams getting the playing time he wants is to take better care of the ball.
Santos (8) and Charles Bassey (8) have also been too turnover-prone.
Five of the Warriors' first six regular-season games are against teams who made the playoffs last year. If the Dubs are averaging around 20 turnovers per game in the first week-and-a-half, they could easily put themselves in a 1-5 hole.
Add us as a preferred source on Google