Now Warriors face the L.A. team without celeb fans

So big an emotional swing in so short a time.

The prelude to the Warriors’ opener was all about the other team, understandable perhaps because the other team is Hollywood’s team, the Lakers.

Everyone was calling them the “new-look” Lakers.

As they used to say in the old movies, “Hello, sweetheart. Give me a rewrite.”

Or if you’re the Lakers, “Give me some baskets at crunch time.”

Only one game. But in the great scheme of California things, including rivalries and Bay Area paranoia, a very big game.

A game in the right direction. A game the Warriors won, 121-114. A game that allowed Warriors coach Steve Kerr to observe, “We could be a good team.”

More on that possibility will be available when the Warriors play their first home game of the 2021-22 season on Thursday night at Chase Center.

It’s against the other L.A. team, the one with less hype, no championships and without Jack Nicholson, Adele or other celebrity fans — the Clippers. 

Will the Lakers, Russell Westbrook joining LeBron James and Anthony Davis, develop into the great team that some have predicted? And will the Warriors surprise us pessimists? Indeed, one game is of little indication.

Yet the simple fact that the Dubs outscored the Lakers in the fourth quarter — remember those depressing days when Kobe or Magic or Shaq would own the closing minutes? — had to be uplifting.

After the Dodgers ousted the Giants in the playoffs (never mind what they’re doing against the Braves) and the Rams moved ahead of the 49ers in the standings, the Lakers were going to make it a SoCal sweep. NorCal was nowhere.

Then, even playing poorly, somehow the Warriors defeated the Lakers in Los Angeles.

That was without Klay Thompson, who we’re told, after two years of recovery and rehab from those injuries to his knee and Achilles tendon, will play in November.

The litany is that basketball is the ultimate team game. Yet, winning and losing depends on an individual, on LeBron for the Lakers or Steph Curry for the Warriors.

They so often get the big basket or rebound. Or steal.

Curry, however, was not at his best on Tuesday. “I played like trash tonight,” he told TNT. OK, but it was the kind of trash that produced Steph’s first triple double in five seasons, 21 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds.

“He really only cares about the win,” said Kerr. “Steph always comes back with a good game.”

Said Draymond Green, still the rock on defense, about the win even with Curry’s off-night, "It's a huge lift. We relied on him so much, and we're still going to rely on him a lot.

“When he can have a night like he did tonight, not get it going, we still come out with a win, that's great. 

The Warriors struggled early because Kerr chose to go with his so-called small lineup, which proved disadvantageous against the taller Lakers (the 7-foot Davis, the 6-9 James), if not disastrous.

“We’re still learning each other,” said Kerr. “Do we want to go big and get the glass, or do we want to play small and spread the court? As the seasons goes, we’ll figure it out.”

What pleased Kerr was the decline in fouls from last season when the Warriors had the highest number in the NBA, many from reach-ins. “Our defense was fine,” said Kerr.

That was the reason the Warriors came back in the second half. Defense was what propelled the Dubs to three titles and five straight appearances in the NBA finals.

Those days are gone. The Warriors are working for a return.