New FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Spurs - Game 4

New FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Spurs – Game 4

Franchise Sports Media

Los Angeles Lakers (2-2) | San Antonio Spurs (1-3)

 

 

 

The Los Angeles Lakers completed their comeback and won their second straight game against the San Antonio Spurs in an overtime thriller 125-121.

 

LeBron James was listed as out for this game. An apparent ankle injury from a collision during the game against the Memphis Grizzlies forced him to remain on the bench for the entirety of this contest against San Antonio. Avery Bradley was also out by coach’s decision, and Wayne Ellington is nursing a strained hamstring.

The game started without a score for the first 1:15 until Russell Westbrook got the buckets going. The Spurs’ Keldon Johnson answered with four straight points, giving San Antonio a 4-2 lead. However, the lead would be short-lived, as the Lakers’ big men, Anthony Davis and DeAndre Jordan, took over and dominated the first half of the quarter in James’ absence. Davis and Jordan were aggressive in the paint, including Jordan catching two lobs for alley-oop dunks. Despite the paint dominance, the Spurs made a late run in the first quarter to take a 29-27 lead into the second quarter.

The Spurs started the quarter strong with jump shots from Devin Vassell and Dejounte Murray, but the Lakers answered right back with a Westbrook jump shot and Malik Monk three-pointer. Near the halfway point of the quarter, Kent Bazemore sank a three to give the Lakers their first lead since the first quarter. Momentum would swing back and forth between the two teams throughout the quarter, with Westbrook and Davis leading the charge. The half would end on a Lonnie Walker IV three-pointer to give the Spurs a 62-61 lead at halftime.

 

The second half began with the momentum shift continuing its back and forth swing on the pendulum.

 

The tug-of-war would continue until less than four minutes remaining in the third when the Spurs turned up the heat. Walker IV hit a three to tie the game at 82 apiece and followed it up with two more threes to put the Spurs back up by six. Walker IV scored eight straight Spurs points after making two free throws off of an Austin Reaves foul. Reaves made up for it with a three but was answered by five consecutive points by Vassell, ending the third quarter with San Antonio up 97-85.

Los Angeles had some catching up to do in the fourth quarter. The Lakers began chipping into the lead in the first two minutes, cutting their deficit to nine. What followed was a 10-0 run in 2:41 to go back up by one. Vassell stopped the bleeding with another three, while Westbrook responded with a two-pointer to keep the game tied. Jakob Poelti kept the Spurs fighting hard with seven straight points after a Westbrook three-pointer. However, the Lakers fought right back to within one with less than two minutes remaining after a Carmelo Anthony layup.

In the final minute, Malik Monk sank a huge three to put Los Angeles up by two with 58.6 seconds left. San Antonio did not give in to the pressure, as they mustered an offensive rebound after two missed free throws from Poelti. Keita Bates-Diop made a layup with 32.2 seconds remaining to tie the game at 114 apiece. The Lakers tried to win the game but turned the ball over via a steal by Bates-Diop. Murray missed what would have been the game-winner with 2.6 seconds left, and Westbrook pulled down the rebound to send the game into overtime.

 

In the extra frame, Westbrook started with a paint shot to break the tie.

 

After a Monk free throw and Davis two-pointer, Poelti made one of his two free throws from a Bazemore foul. Poelti’s point got turned into a Westbrook drive and dunk to put Los Angeles up by six. The Spurs responded with a 6-0 run in just 55 seconds to tie the game again at 121 each.

After a Lakers timeout, Davis tipped in a missed layup by Bazemore to regain the lead for Los Angeles. Vassell attempted a three to put the Spurs back in front but to no avail. Westbrook went the other way and drove to another layup to take a 125-121 lead for the Purple and Gold. Murray and Davis traded missed shots, but Bazemore stole the ball from Bates-Diop with 8.4 seconds remaining, which allowed the Lakers to run out the clock and seal the overtime victory 125-121 in their first road game of the season.

Davis led all scorers with 35 points, while Westbrook by far had his best game as a Laker with 33 points and ten rebounds, his third straight double-double. Monk scored 17 points in 39 minutes of action. Reaves also had 10 points off the bench in 30 minutes on the court. The Spurs’ leading scorer was Poelti with 27 points, followed by Murray with 21 points and Johnson with 11 after getting San Antonio’s first points of the game early on.

 

The Lakers’ next game will be tonight in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where they will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder. The game will begin at 5:00 and can be seen on Spectrum SportsNet.

 

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 – Matt Dobbs – Franchise Sports Media

Follow Matt on Twitter @RecordBowlerFSM

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