Skip Bayless credits Russell Westbrook’s performance in LA Lakers’ first win: “For the first time, I saw Russ play without the pressure of expectation”

The LA Lakers logged their first win of the NBA season at home yesterday, securing a 11-point victory over the Denver Nuggets, 121-110.

LeBron James made 26 points, six rebounds and eight assists and Anthony Davis managed a 23-point, 15-rebound double-double. Russell Westbrook had the best night of anyone on the Lakers, scoring 18 points, eight rebounds and eight assists on six-for-12 from the field and two-for-four from three.

On FS1's "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed," Skip Bayless praised Westbrook and the Lakers for their play last night:

"The point was, Russ came off the bench and with LeBron resting, especially in the second quarter, they just went crazy.

"The point was, if you look at the final boxscore, this is outrageously upside down to me because this never ever has happened.

LeBron (James) finished this basketball with -1 in plus-minus, so that means all the time he was on the floor they lost by one point.

Meanwhile, Russ led the whole team and the whole game by being +18. Russ is 18/8/8, he winds up playing starter minutes. I liked the energy. [...] For the first time, I saw Russ play without the pressure of expectation."

LA Lakers take home impressive win, Russell Westbrook shines

Russell Westbrook, Denver Nuggets v Los Angeles Lakers

After the Lakers were outmatched in the first quarter, the trio of LeBron, Davis and Westbrook all had a big night to secure LAL their first win of the season.

The most impressive stat from the game was unequivocally their three-point shooting: 13-for-30 (43.3%). Lonnie Walker IV, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Austin Reaves and Matt Ryan all shot at or over 40% from three, with the least of their attempts coming from Ryan at three (he made two).

Another upside for the Lakers was that not only did they secure the win, they managed it with LeBron not having the best of games for a significant portion of the night.

James shot four-for-12 in the first half, but turned it up in the fourth quarter, shooting four-for-seven from the field.

In the non-LeBron minutes, Russell Westbrook came off the bench and had a spectacular outing.

Westbrook got to the cup on made several heavily contested layups, shot three-pointers, and made a clutch defensive play down the game. The Lakers looked like an incredibly well-rounded team for most of the game and matched their defensive prowess on offense.

Anthony Davis' defensive outing against Nikola Jokic was another key part of the win. Davis gave up 1.09 points per possession, the best among his teammates with at least five minutes played.

Jokic shot eight-for-16 from the field and sunk just one of his five three-point attempts. For the Nuggets, Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray both shot poorly from the floor, with Porter Jr. shooting 33% from the field (five-for-15) and Murray 42.9% (nine-for-21).

Aaron Gordon was unarguably the Nuggets' best player on the floor with a box plus-minus score of +17, the highest among his teammates. He shot seven-for-11 from the field.