New FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Spurs- Game 33

New FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Spurs – Game 33

Franchise Sports Media

Los Angeles Lakers (16-17)  |  San Antonio Spurs (13-18)

 

The Los Angeles Lakers continued to show ailments of being short-handed as they suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs 138-110.

 

The game started close between the two teams as neither squad got away from the other in the opening minutes. San Antonio got out to a five-point cushion over four minutes into the game with points from Doug McDermott and Dejounte Murray, although the Lakers fought back as Russell Westbrook hit a jumper and followed with two free throws off a foul.

Los Angeles tied the game whenever the Spurs tried to build a run, but San Antonio suddenly went off on a big run late in the opening quarter. Murray untied the game with a three, followed by Lonnie Walker IV hitting a three after Jock Landale added two free throws to the lead. The late quarter collapse saw a score of 33-24 in favor of the Spurs after the first quarter ended.

LeBron James started the second-quarter scoring with a tip-in after missing a floater and getting his own rebound. The Spurs pulled away a little further as the quarter waned on as the lead reached 13 three minutes in thanks to a Derrick White three-pointer. The lead stabilized for several minutes until Keita Bates-Diop scored five straight points halfway through the quarter. Los Angeles tried to fight back late in the second as Carmelo Anthony scored six consecutive points with under two minutes remaining, but a White three derailed the run.

 

L.A. maintained better but still lost ground as the Spurs took a 66-55 lead into the halftime break.

 

San Antonio scored five straight points to start the third quarter as White and Jakob Poelti contributed to the score. The margin stabilized throughout the first half of the third quarter as every attempt to come back was derailed by the Spurs. Late in the quarter, Westbrook tried keeping the Lakers within striking distance with five points, but each of his two field-goal conversions was answered.

The fourth quarter began with a 13-point deficit for L.A., but the energy and momentum of the game continued to sway away from the purple and gold. The Spurs pulled out some more as Landale threw down a dunk that put the Spurs up by 18 with 8:36 left.

Halfway through the frame, it continued to get worse for L.A. as the deficit swelled to 20 thanks to Walker IV answering two L.A. scores. The bench checked into the game in the final four minutes as the lead proved to be too great to catch up despite a 36-point game from James and a 30-point game from Westbrook. Bates-Diop and Devin Vassell were the only two scorers in the last 2:33 of the game as the Spurs pulled away to a blowout 138-110 win.

Bates-Diop played his heart out during the Spurs’ spoiler game in the Lakers’ final game under the Staples Center arena name before officially changing to Crypto.com Arena on Christmas Day. Bates-Diop ended with a career-high 30 points off the bench to lead his team in scoring, while White finished with 23 points.

The Lakers have struggled all season with injuries to their star players as the players have not been able to have enough playing time to gel together and fulfill their expectations to this point. Anthony Davis is still expected to be out until the middle of January, while injuries and health protocols have plagued other members of the team to disrupt the chemistry among a team that was deemed to be a dominant force from the start of the season and be the team that would challenge for another title.

 

The Lakers will see their next action Saturday night on Christmas as they welcome the Brooklyn Nets to town. The game will begin at 5:00 and can be seen live on ESPN and ABC.

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– Matt Dobbs – Franchise Sports Media

Follow Matt on Twitter @RecordBowlerFSM

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