Luka Doncic caught fire early, the offense clicked, and the lead kept growing. But what looked like a comfortable Friday night quickly turned into a nightmare. The Los Angeles Lakers blew a 25-point advantage, one of their largest blown leads this decade. And eventually suffered a 112–95 loss to the Golden State Warriors in their NBA Cup opener.

The Dub Nation erased that deficit before halftime and took control after the break. Three-time NBA champion James Worthy was particularly troubled by how Los Angeles let the game slip away.

“The inability to keep a 25-point lead against a team that you’ve beaten already and I think probably should have beaten tonight,” said Worthy on the postgame show on Spectrum SportsNet. “But you know, not knowing how to keep that lead, that bothers me a little bit. I mean, I know they had a poor bench performance and didn’t shoot the ball well from the three.

“But when you get that 25-point lead, you can’t let that slip away. You might get to 15, but that’s a big problem. So, it’s early in the season. Golden State proved that they are a championship organization.”

The numbers explain why Worthy was so frustrated. Los Angeles looked unstoppable in the opening quarter, scoring 38 points while holding Golden State to just 15. Doncic alone outscored the entire Warriors, scoring 21 in Q1. But the momentum flipped completely in the second. The Warriors matched that 38-point total, tying the game at 53 before halftime. Luka Doncic and co. also struggled to find their rhythm from beyond the arc, missing all nine threes in the period.

At one point, they missed 15 consecutive three-point attempts. They eventually finished 11-of-39 from deep, while Golden State connected on 22 of its 46 attempts. The bench made the gap even harder to overcome.

Los Angeles received only seven points from its reserves, compared to 50 from Golden State’s second unit. De’Anthony Melton scored 16 points, while Georges Niang added 11 to help fuel the comeback.

Quentin Grimes, who had scored 23 points against the Clippers in the previous game, managed just three against Golden State. Collin Sexton also endured a difficult night, finishing scoreless on 0-of-6 shooting. Meanwhile, Austin Reaves struggled to keep possession, committing eight turnovers.

Worthy noted that ball security had already been a concern during the preseason. The Lakers may have brushed it aside then, but the problem resurfaced against the Warriors team. And AR was not shying away from shouldering the blame.

He finished with 21 points, four rebounds and five assists, but his eight giveaways proved costly.

“I was terrible again,” Reaves said. “That’s it.”

He also acknowledged that the second unit struggled when it entered the game while making it clear that unfamiliar lineups were not an excuse.

“Just bad. We were bad,” Reaves said. “That first group to start the second unit was bad. Like I said, that starts with me, so I’ll be better.”

Luka Doncic finished with 37 points, seven rebounds and five assists, yet even his scoring could not rescue a team that struggled to generate offense late. The Lakers managed only 15 points in the fourth quarter and went more than four minutes without a point to start the period. Golden State, meanwhile, opened the final frame with an 11-point run and stretched its advantage to as many as 17.

The defeat is an early warning for a Lakers team with clear offensive firepower. But Luka Doncic seemingly is not worried.

“It’s going to take some time for sure,” he added. “We’ve got a lot of new guys, but I really like playing with these guys. Everybody can be better than this. Me first. I’ve got to be better. We lose together, we win together.”

Now, Luka Doncic can give them a strong start, but they need more reliable contributions from the supporting cast. It’s still early in the season, and the Lakers have plenty of time to correct their mistakes. Their next matchup is against a Kawhi Leonard-less Toronto Raptors.