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Warriors edge Lakers in preseason debut

Oct 10, 2007 - 8:02 AM HONOLULU (Ticker) -- The Golden State Warriors picked up right where they left off last season as they edged the Los Angeles Lakers, 111-110, in the season opener for both teams.

Kelenna Azubuike scored 17 of his game-high 27 points in the first quarter as the Warriors jumped to a 21-point lead after the first 12 minutes. The second-year guard out of Kentucky finished 9-of-16 from the field and pulled down nine rebounds.

Azubuike, who played in 41 games while making nine starts last season, is looking to improve upon his rookie season in which he averaged 7.1 points per game and 2.1 rebounds in just over 16.3 minutes.

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant was held scoreless in just under nine minutes on Tuesday, that is, until the third quarter. Bryant, who led the NBA in scoring a season ago, averaging 31.6 points per game, scored 17 points in the third quarter, but Golden State managed to build a 58-45 halftime lead to 17 entering the final period of play.

Los Angeles opened the fourth quarter with a 21-4 run to tie the game at 95-95. After Ronny Turiaf hit two free throws to give the Lakers a 110-109 lead with 10 seconds left in the game, newly acquired Tierre Brown of the Warriors drove the lane and kicked out to veteran Troy Hudson, who nailed the jumper to lift Golden State to victory.

Vladimir Radmonovic led the Lakers with 20 points while rookie guard Javaris Crittenton added 18.

Crittenton, who entered the NBA after completing his freshman year at Georgia Tech, was selected 19th overall by the Lakers in the 2007 NBA draft after averaging 14.4 points and 5.7 assists per game in his lone season in college.