The San Antonio Spurs will not only get a second chance in three days to earn a victory over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers, they get another opportunity Friday to put an end to their franchise-record losing streak.
The Lakers barely escaped with a 122-119 win over the Spurs on Wednesday, needing to make clutch free throws in the final minute to hold off San Antonio.
The Spurs have dropped 18 straight games, last coming out on top when they defeated the Phoenix Suns 132-121 on the road Nov. 2. The Suns were 3-2 at that point of the season and feeling optimistic about the road ahead, until adversity arrived.
Anthony Davis led Los Angeles to its fifth win in six games Wednesday, counting a victory over the Indiana Pacers in the in-season tournament championship game last Saturday.
Davis scored 37 points with 10 rebounds against the Spurs to help make up for the absence of LeBron James, who missed the game with a left calf contusion. It was just the second missed game this season for James.
“Giving my team a chance to win,” Davis said. “I know when I’m on the floor playing, my team has a higher chance of winning than me being out because of my presence defensively and my presence offensively. We’re trying to win basketball games.”
Taurean Prince added 17 points for the Lakers, with Austin Reaves scoring 15 off the bench. Rui Hachimura had 13 points and D’Angelo Russell contributed 12 points and 10 assists.
“Whenever you can get a win in this league against whoever, you have to be thankful,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “There’s a lot of things we can take away that we know good damn well we need to get better at.
“It’s not so much about who we’re playing, what their record is. It’s about us and the way we want to represent ourselves every time we step out on the floor, trying to get better, trying to build winning habits and be consistent at those winning habits.”
Spurs rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama led San Antonio with 30 points and 13 rebounds and spurred the late comeback, pouring in two 3-pointers and a then a pair of free throws to draw the Spurs to within 117-116 with 21.2 seconds left. It was his second career 30-point game.
Keldon Johnson added a season-high 28 points, Malaki Branham had 19 and Devin Vassell delivered 13.
San Antonio was down by 13 points at the half, by 19 midway through the third quarter and by 20 early in the fourth before its late surge. Davis made a pair of free throws with 17.3 seconds left and an offensive foul by Wembanyama on the Spurs’ ensuing possession decided the game.
“I didn’t think we competed, and I didn’t think we played wisely in the first half,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. “We were sloppy, trying to do things quickly. We did nothing that the basketball gods would be happy with. Second half, I felt good.”
Wembanyama said the team needs to continue playing smart basketball and to deliver at a peak effort.
“In the first half, we had neither of those,” the rookie said. “At least if we’re not making shots, or if we can’t get to the basket on offense, we need to get stops.”
–Field Level Media