Lakers beat young Spurs: “At times tonight, we didn’t really play well”
After a bad loss on Thursday against the Warriors without five rotation players, including LeBron James, the Lakers were in a must-win situation on Friday against the NBA’s youngest team, the San Antonio Spurs team, who sit at the bottom of the Western Conference.
The emergence back in the win column was thanks to a 58-point outing from LeBron (30 points), Anthony Davis (28 points, 13 rebounds), and a starting unit that accounted for the team's 97 points—beating San Antonio 123-118 on Friday night.
The win improves the Lakers’ record to 31–27 and 7–2 so far in Feb.
“At times tonight, we didn’t really play well, but we fought through that and got a good win,” Austin Reaves said.
The Lakers maintained their lead for most of the game, leading by as many as 16 points, but the constant effort from the Spurs and L.A. dangerously coasting kept it closer than it should have been — leading to a five-point win.
The night consisted of an anticipated must-see matchup between Davis and Spurs' promising rookie, Victor Wembanyama, who showed flashes of brilliance against the L.A.’s big man.
Davis got the best of Webanyama most of the night, but most of San Antonio’s production came from the 20-year-old rookie, who finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and 10 stocks (five steals, five blocks).
The 20-year-old rookie joined Michael Jordan as the only two players ever to record five blocks and five steals in back-to-back games.
“He’s special and he has an unbelievable coach that’s going to make sure that he does things the right way,” LeBron said on Wembanyama.
With a game-high 30-point scoring performance from LeBron, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich strongly praised the 39-year-old.
“It was a day where you wanted him to shoot and you get off him, but he didn’t really want to shoot, he just wanted to pass because he’s such a great player all around,” Popovich said. “Obviously, he’s done both for years, so it was just fun to watch him. You look at his age, his conditioning, what he does; he’s a miracle. He really is. He’s something else.
On the day of his 28th birthday, D’Angelo Russell finished third on the team, scoring 22 points, six assists, and three rebounds.
Rui Hachimura finished with 17 on an efficient 7-for-11 (63.6%) shooting, seven rebounds, two steals, and a block in 31 minutes.
Reaves tied LeBron for a game-high nine assists but struggled from the field on 4-of-12 (33%) shooting for 10 points.
The Lakers’ next matchup comes on the road at the Footprint Center against the 33–24 Phoenix Suns on Sunday.
