OAKLAND, Calif. _ They spent the past eight days staring down their idols, facing the players they watched as kids and getting used to facing dominant teams in front of hostile crowds.
Judging by Friday's performance, it all seemed to steel the Los Angeles Lakers rookies.
Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma tried to lead the Lakers to their first win of the season against the NBA champion Golden State Warriors.
With their home crowd behind them, the Warriors proved to be too much, even without injured star Stephen Curry.
The Warriors won their 11th straight game, beating the Lakers 113-106 to improve to 26-6 overall and 3-0 against the Lakers. The loss dropped the Lakers to 11-19.
Kuzma scored a team-high 27 points and became the first Lakers rookie since Jerry West in 1961 to have three consecutive games with 25 or more points.
This followed a 38-point performance against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.
Ball made his first four three-point attempts and scored 24 points with five rebounds and five assists.
The game closed the toughest four-game stretch any team will play this year. In the past eight days the Lakers played the Warriors twice and also faced the Rockets (Western Conference leaders) and Cleveland Cavaliers (defending Eastern Conference champions).
The Lakers used a similar starting lineup that was effective in a win over the Rockets. They started Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Andrew Bogut (for the injured Brook Lopez) and Kyle Kuzma.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope rejoined the starting lineup after missing Wednesday's game; he is serving a jail sentence that doesn't allow him to leave the state. He is released for Lakers games and practices, so he flew to the Bay Area on Friday morning and participated in a Lakers shoot-around.
"We've been here for him," Corey Brewer said. "We're going to be here for him if he needs anything however we can help him. That's what teammates are for. Hasn't been a distraction or anything. We know he has to do what he has to do."
To keep Caldwell-Pope in shape while they are away, the Lakers have held individual sessions with team staff members at the team facility.
"We get updates and they said he had a couple of great workouts and there is obviously nothing like being in the shape of playing as the season goes," Lakers coach Luke Walton said. "But our schedule is to the point where we are mostly home over this next stretch."
While the Lakers kept pace with the Warriors in their first two meetings this season _ they lost in overtime on Monday _ Golden State didn't take long to pull away on Friday night. They led by only three points after one quarter but increased the lead to 17 at halftime.
When the Warriors took a 23-point lead in the third quarter, the Lakers gritted their teeth and showed their unwillingness to be embarrassed. They went on a 20-6 run the next six minutes, cutting the lead to single digits.
After three quarters the deficit was a manageable 12 points. The Lakers got within two points in the fourth but couldn't catch the Warriors.
