FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Spurs - Game 15

FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Spurs – Game 15

Franchise Sports Media

Los Angeles Lakers (5-10) | San Antonio Spurs (6-12)

 

The Lakers have won their third straight game to improve to 5-10. Davis posted his third straight game with 30+ points and 16+ rebounds, Reaves had a season-high 21 points, and seven Lakers scored in double figures.

 

Max Christie entered health & safety protocols earlier in the week and was listed as out for this one. Juan Toscano-Anderson was also out for the Lakers due to mid-back soreness. LeBron James, due to an adductor strain, was listed as out for the Lakers. James missed his fourth straight game against the Spurs.

It was the same starters as the last game for the Lakers with Patrick Beverley, Austin Reaves, Lonnie Walker IV, Troy Brown Jr., and Anthony Davis.

Gregg Popovich wasn’t on the court since speaking to reporters before the game and was out with an illness. Assistant coach Brett Brown filled in as acting head coach. The Lakers will play the Spurs three times over the next four games, including this one.

Both teams missed shots on their first possessions. But Devin Vassell got things going by hitting a jumper around the free-throw line for the Spurs. Brown Jr. scored the first points for the Lakers in the paint off a dime from Walker IV.

Jeremy Sochan thought he had an easy bucket on Reaves but was rejected by Davis, who came out of nowhere to slap it off the backboard. That led to a Walker IV layup.

Davis then got the ball, hit the spin move, got fouled, and sunk a deep hook shot for the and-1. Davis wasn’t done. On the break, he found a wide-open Reaves inside for two, capping a 9-4 start for the Lakers.

Reaves got the rebound off a hustle play and got it to Davis. Davis worked Gorgui Dieng inside for a tough acrobatic layup. Davis finds himself behind, though, as the Spurs hurry onto a powerplay and take advantage of their numbers for two.

Reaves responded by coming right back down for an easy layup, pushing the score to 13-6, as the Lakers led. Vassell got the and-1, but he missed the free throw. Sochan then made a deep two to cut the lead to 13-10.

Reaves threw up the lob to whoever else but Davis, and he threw it down. Sochan was able to nab an offensive rebound with Davis in the area, and he was able to get the second chance points. 

Reaves remained locked in all night as he drilled a three to push the lead to 20-14. Davis grabbed an errant pass from Kendrick Nunn, got fouled, and converted the bucket. Along with the free throw. Davis then drew the late double team but sized up and sank the deep mid-jumper.

Russell Westbrook got it going by hitting a three, then he came down and exploded to the rim for a layup. Westbrook drove again, but this time dished to Davis, who threw it down.

San Antonio, especially without Jakob Poeltl’s presence inside, really had little answer for the aggressive Davis. He was already up to 18 points after the first quarter to put the Lake Show up 34-20. 

However, to begin the second quarter, Davis left for the locker room for what seemed to be a right eye injury. Josh Richardson took advantage and started the second quarter off for the Spurs with a three. 

Wenyen Gabriel scored two after catching an awkward pass from Nunn. Doug McDermott scored inside, as the score read 42-25 in the Lakers’ favor. Dieng fought underneath for two points. Brown Jr. tried to respond but ran right into a charge and was called for an offensive foul. 

Tre Jones scored off a hook shot, and Darvin Ham promptly called for a timeout, with their lead slightly faltering to 43-31. Coming out of the timeout, Walker IV drove by his defender and tried to soar over another Spurs defender but was called for charging. 

Westbrook drove and dumped it off to Thomas Bryant, who slammed it home. Westbrook, in transition, then handed it off to Bryant for another score. Vassell scores a three in response. Reaves found Bryant inside, and he threw it down once again. Dieng hit a three-to-counter.

Westbrook found a wide-open Reaves in the corner, and he made the three. But Jones got a fastbreak layup off a Westbrook turnover. 

Reaves was already in double figures, with 10 points (2-3 from deep). Bryant made his season debut on Friday, and he backed up a strong opening performance. With another in this one. So far, he was 4 for four towards ten bench points. Reaves reached double-digit points in four straight games and five of the past six games overall.

Beverley wanted a piece of the action, and he drew a charging call on Sochan. Walker IV splashed home a three, then drove and kicked it out to Reaves, who hit another three, as the Laker lead was extended to 62-43. 

Richardson responded with a three, and Davis, who reentered the game from his apparent eye injury, came back down to score the two over Sochan.

 

At Halftime, the score read Lakers 66, Spurs 48. Davis had 20 points and nine rebounds. Reaves had 17 points. Bryant had 10 points off the bench. The Lakers were shooting 54.3% in one of their better halves of the season.

 

Davis hit a jumper to begin the second half. Brown Jr. couldn’t get a clean look at the bucket with two Spurs defenders on him. So he threw the ball in the direction of Walker IV, and he threw it down.

Beverley drove from the corner and fully intended to pass it down to Davis, who dunked it through. Walker IV glided through the paint and avoided the block as he got the layup. The Lakers held a 74-48 lead after an 8-0 run to start the 3rd quarter at the 8:49 mark, forcing the second time out already for Brown, who was coaching for Popovich.

Beverley sank a three, then Westbrook threw the lob up to Davis, and he flushed it through for Westbrook’s seventh assist. Westbrook found a wide-open Reaves in transition for the layup off a Spurs turnover.

Charles Bassey got the dunk inside, and Keita Bates-Diop scored the layup underneath with Brown Jr. draped all over him to cap off a 10-2 scoring run for the Spurs, but the score was still 87-61.

Westbrook got his 10th assist by hitting Bryant on the break, and he finished inside. Westbrook then came down and made a three. Nunn got in on the scoring barrage by hitting his own three.

But Richardson had enough, and he scored inside off a spinning hook shot. Isaiah Roby scored in transition to end the third quarter, Lakers 95, Spurs 67.

Dennis Schroder started the fourth quarter with a jumper from the charity stripe. Reaves threw it up to Davis, and he slammed it home for his 30th point of the night. Promptly afterward, Ham subbed the both of them out.

Walker IV found himself all alone from three, and he drained his second three of the night. Nothing else from this point on was worthy of note, as the Spurs did not pull off a comeback in the fourth and fell to the Lake Show 123-92.

Key Takeaways

 

Davis had six 30-20 games in his career, but he fell two boards short in this one. Davis finished this one with 30 points on 12 of 19 shooting (10 of his 12 field goals in the paint), with 18 boards. 

The last three games for Davis, all of which have been wins, 35.0 points on 61.7% overall, 17.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.7 blocks, and 1.3 steals. Brooklyn, Detroit, and San Antonio have all played small, and Davis punished them inside.

Reaves in the last three games, vs. Sacramento: 19 points, five boards, vs. Brooklyn: 15 points (3 of 4 3’s), and vs. Detroit: 16 points, six assists. This time out, he totaled 21 points on 7-11 overall and 3-4 from three.

Vassell was the only Spur with significance as he put up 17 points on 3-4 shooting from three, along with four rebounds and four assists. Keldon Johnson was held to a brutal 4-20 overall and 1-10 from three, totaling just 12 points.

Five other Lakers scored in double figures. Walker IV totaled 14 points, Bryant with 15, 13 from Schroder and Nunn, and 10 points with ten assists for Westbrook.

Davis told reporters after the game, “No matter who is on the floor, for us or for them, I just want to continue to have the mindset of dominating on both sides of the ball.“

Ham told reporters that Westbrook had his right thumb evaluated after the game and will have it examined again Monday. Westbrook left the arena with a wrap on his hand.

 

The Lakers will now travel to Phoenix, Arizona, and take on the Phoenix Suns. They’ll face off Tuesday, November 22nd, at 7:00 p.m. at the Footprint Center. The game will be available on TNT.

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– Jake Ideguchi-Furukawa – Franchise Sports Media

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