Anthony Davis, Lakers withstand Timberwolves in historic night

The Los Angeles Lakers withstood a late run by the Minnesota Timberwolves to win their season opener, 110-103, on a historic Tuesday night at the Crypto.com Arena in downtown LA.

Anthony Davis had a dominant MVP-type performance, putting up 36 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks. He made key plays down the stretch on both ends of the floor, scoring on 4-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert and swallowing up a strong take by Donte DiVincenzo.

The Lakers built a 20-point lead in the first half only to see it cut down to single digits in the 3rd quarter. The Timberwolves came to as close as 4, 81-85, but Davis and LA pulled off enough baskets and stops to come away with the victory.

Davis became the first Laker to achieve a 35+ point, 15+ rebound in an LA season opener win since Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. 

Anthony Edwards scored 27 for the Timberwolves in their losing effort but shot just 10/24 from the field. Minnesota played their first regular season game with Julius Randle (16 points) and DiVincenzo (10 points) after that blockbuster trade a few weeks ago that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks.

This was a night to remember in Los Angeles with lots of historic moments. Let’s check out each of them here.

LeBron-Bronny the first-ever father-son duo in the NBA

The game featured a historic moment for LeBron James and his eldest son LeBron “Bronny” James Jr. as they became the first father-son pair in the history of the league to step on the court at the same time.

The wholesome moment happened with 4 minutes left in the second quarter as LeBron and Bronny checked in together in the game.

LeBron, who is in year 22 of his basketball career and will turn 40 years old this December, is the all-time leading scorer of the NBA with over 40,000 points. He always expressed his desire of playing together with his son in the NBA, and that dream became a reality today.

Bronny, the 55th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, is not expected to play heavy minutes for the Lakers and will likely spend most of the year in LA’s G League team South Bay Lakers to continue his development.

Nonetheless, the precious moment was shared by the elder and younger James with their wife/mother Savannah, daughter/sister Zhuri, and several high-profile people in attendance to witness the history.

JJ Redick’s first pro game (and win) as an NBA basketball coach

The Lakers’ win also allowed first-year head coach JJ Redick to win his coaching debut. Redick, a 15-year NBA veteran, did not have any basketball coaching experience at any level but was relatively active around the basketball scene. After a successful NBA career, the 6-foot-4 guard out of Duke was an analyst for ESPN and had his own production studio of podcasts to talk about the NBA before applying and getting accepted for the Lakers job.

Redick did a relatively good job in his first-ever regular season game, often coaching up the Lakers to emphasize their offensive rebounding and to limit their turnovers. Redick also expressed his desire for the Lakers to shoot a certain number of threes, and although LA just went 5-30 from deep, Redick liked what he saw as the Lakers played with pace and space.

Redick also coached with a veteran sense, drawing up unique and good set plays that drew national media attention on social media. Redick was often credited for the Lakers’ renewed sense of ball movement which could be a good sign for the team moving forward.

Lakers (finally) win a season opener with LeBron

Coming into the game, the Lakers were 0-6 over their last season-opening games in the LeBron James era. They weren’t about to lose 7 straight times, as AD willed them victory.

Davis also mentioned this was the Lakers’ first win in any historic moment that involved LeBron, as he exchanged a laugh with reporters post-game.

“We lose every time [LeBron] does something historic or cool, so we’re just happy to win today and celebrate this moment,” Davis said.

LeBron: longest tenured player of all time

After playing in this game, LeBron officially tied Vince Carter as the only players in NBA history to play 22 seasons. With the body of work he has and the ability to adapt to situations, LeBron could officially surpass Carter next season and claim another record by himself – alone – next season.