The Golden State Warriors have not had this important a preseason in some time, and the retooled roster that was supposed to use training camp as a relaunch of their brilliant brand of basketball has thus far failed. The new-look Los Angeles Lakers have handed them three losses already, with a fourth meeting set for Friday night. Based on what we have seen so far, the only logical conclusion anyone could draw is that LeBron James' Lakers are the contender and Stephen Curry's Warriors are the pretender.