Lakers hand Spurs 20th Loss of the season

DAVIS HELPS LAKERS OVERCOME JAMES’ ABSENCE

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated San Antonio and Victor Wembanyama 122-119 on Wednesday night, thanks to 37 points and 10 rebounds from Anthony Davis. This extended the Spurs’ franchise-record losing skid to 18 games.

Wembanyama led San Antonio, which hasn’t triumphed since November 2, with 30 points, 13 rebounds, and six blocks. Since Spurs great Tim Duncan in 1998, Wembanyama became the only rookie to record 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 blocks in a single game.

Wembanyama stated, “I think it’s going to look greater if we win.”

LeBron James, the four-time MVP, missed the first of the Lakers’ two consecutive games in San Antonio due to a left calf injury. The teams will play one more on Friday evening.

When Davis rolled his left ankle after a spin move against Wembanyama in the first few seconds of the game, the Lakers also nearly lost. Even on the second night of a back-to-back for Los Angeles, Davis would not give up.

According to Davis, “giving my team a chance to win.” My presence both offensively and defensively means that my team has a better probability of winning when I’m on the court than when I’m not. Our goal is to prevail in basketball matches.

Lakers were leading in the first 3 quarters from spurs. They scored 34-26 in 1st quarter, 29-24 in 2nd quarter, 29-24 in 3rd quarter.

The NBA In-Season Tournament champion Lakers were on the verge of losing to the Spurs. In the last quarter, San Antonio outscored Los Angeles 45–30.

With 1:29 left in the game, Wembanyama’s 3-pointer over Davis trimmed the Lakers’ advantage to 115-110 after the Spurs had fallen behind by 20 points early in the fourth quarter. With 22 seconds left, Wembanyama converted one of his two free throws to make the score 117-116.

“(Wembanyama) never gives up,” Lakers head coach Darvin Ham remarked. “He made some big plays for them in the closing moments of the game.”

With 8.8 seconds left and the Lakers leading 119-116, Wembanyama stuck out his leg on a failed 3-pointer, forcing him to foul out for the first time in his career.

Wembanyama stated, “I don’t think it comes down to set play or strategies or anything.” It’s similar to playing smart and hard, in my opinion. We didn’t have either of those in the first half. We must at least force stops if we’re not making shots or are unable to score on offense.

Malaki Branham scored 16 points and Keldon Johnson contributed 28 for the Spurs.

The Lakers triumphed for the fifth time in six games with the addition of 17 points from Taurean Prince. D’Angelo Russell finished with 12 points and 10 assists, while Austin Reaves scored 15 points.

Lakers once again outscored their opponent in the paint they scored 62 points compared to spurs 58 points. Lakers defence also played huge part in their win since they grabbed 14 steals compared to 8 steals from Spurs.

“Once they gained the upper hand, it appeared as though they carried it through to the very end,” Ham remarked. But we persevered. We tore it up. We are obviously happy with the outcome, the “W,” but there are certain areas where we need to improve, and we will.

On the Lakers’ first possession, Davis rolled his left ankle and writhed in agony on the baseline after failing to finish a layup against Wembanyama. After a brief timeout was called by the Lakers to check on Davis, he took advantage of the opportunity to stretch and run to help with his injury.

In the first half, Davis scored 24 points on 10 of 15 field goals. With 3:57 left in the first half, he scored a point by bullying Wembanyama out of position under the hoop, creating space for a devastating one-handed dunk on the rookie.