NBA preseason: The Warriors defeat the Lakers without Steph Curry and LeBron James

Just hours before the Golden State Warriors announced their preseason finale, they were faced with an obstacle that would doom them. Much harder to win: Steph Curry withdrew due to a sprained finger. But that obstacle was more than negated by the advantage the Los Angeles Lakers would give the Dubs: their C-Team.

Since the Lakers were on the receiving end of a back-to-back (something that I believe should be illegal in the preseason), they rested all five starters. Golden State's starting five – the same quintet they fielded in Tuesday's win over the Lakers, but with De'Anthony Melton replacing Curry – was pitted against a Lakers five that consisted partly of players just trying to to make the rotation, or in some cases, the roster: Jalen Hood-Schifino, Quincy Olivari, Bronny James, Cam Reddish and Jaxson Hayes.

The result was exactly what you would expect: a blast.

Golden State looked athletic and aggressive early, with Jonathan Kuminga and Andrew Wiggins leading the charge, relentlessly attacking the basket in transition, penetrating off the dribble and making halfcourt cuts. Draymond Green did a first-class impression of Brock Purdy, collecting five assists in the first five minutes. While Melton pinned Los Angeles on defense, Trayce Jackson-Davis began to dominate on offense, and the Warriors never looked back. As the teams began making some substitutions, Golden State went on a 13-0 run to take a 29-12 lead with three minutes left, and the game wasn't close after that.

A performance against players at the bottom of the roster should be taken with great caution, but it's worth noting that against a weak lineup (all the Lakers are struggling to prove they deserve to play), the Warriors got the win came away with 13 assists in the first quarter and only lost one turnover. The offense was aggressive and fast-paced, but extremely disciplined, intelligent and controlled. And most importantly, the Warriors led 36-18 after the first frame.

It was a similar story at the start of the second quarter. The ball moved brilliantly and Moses Moody continued his spectacular pre-season with a fantastic offense while Melton continued to shine defensively. As the half progressed, the offense began to stagnate and the Dubs became a little gun-happy from three-point range. They “only” had 21 assists with five turnovers at halftime, with a lead of 66:40.

Steve Kerr didn't let Curry's absence stop him from playing the majority of his rotation players' big minutes. Moody replaced Green in the starting lineup in the second half, but it was the same other four players. The Dubs had no mercy on the helpless Lakers as they kept going throughout the quarter and extended the lead to 104-62. The Lakers' only life came from rookie James, who got even the Warriors crowd a little excited with a solid game in the third quarter and easily had the best game of his extremely young career.

However, the highlight came between quarters. Former Warriors general manager Bob Myers was the color analyst for the game and also served as a sideline reporter for in-game interviews, speaking with Kerr between the third and fourth quarters. There's clearly still a lot of love between Myers and the Warriors, as he and Kerr have been tearing each other up and Curry has come around to get in on the action. Myers jokingly accused Kerr of coaching better now than he did when Myers was around, while Kerr said that Mike Dunleavy Jr. is doing a better job with the squad. Curry chirped that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from meeting Myers and ran back to the bench. Hugs and laughter were exchanged everywhere.

With the blowout safely secured, the Warriors headed toward a win, keeping their rotation players in the game for much of the fourth quarter and continuing to play hard. When the buzzer sounded, it was a ridiculous 132-74 victory and a perfect 6-0 preseason.

Despite playing only 19 minutes, Kuminga led the Warriors with 17 points (plus four rebounds) while shooting 7 of 11 from the field. Wiggins, who looked significantly less rusty than in his preseason debut on Tuesday, had a wonderful game, finishing the game with 13 points on 4-for-9 shooting, with three rebounds, three assists and two blocks. TJD finished the game with 12 points on 6-for-9 shooting and added five assists and four blocks, while Melton, in addition to his great defense, did his best Curry impression by shooting a perfect 4-for-4 while shooting five Distributed dimes.

Brandin Podziemski had a very good game, scoring 16 points (albeit due to inefficient shooting), four rebounds, two assists, three steals and several notable hustle plays while finishing with a game-high +39 in just 21 minutes. Moody and Buddy Hield both scored 14 points and four rebounds on 5-for-9 shooting, while Hield added four assists. Rookie Quinten Post came on in the final seven minutes and showed off his pick-and-pop ability by making all three of his shots…including two three-pointers.

Next step: the real stuff.