Spurs Face Lakers, Looking To Rebound From Missteps

(CTN News) – Taking on the San Antonio Spurs Friday night, the Los Angeles Lakers will look to wrap up their three-game season series.

After losing 128-110 to the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, the Lakers, minus LeBron James (sore ankle), will head home. A three-game winning streak for Los Angeles was snapped in its second consecutive game without James. With six wins in its past eight games, Los Angeles has returned to postseason contention.

During Thursday’s loss, Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 27 points and 15 rebounds, while D’Angelo Russell had 18 points, Austin Reaves had 16 and Taurean Prince had 12. As a result of Los Angeles’ 18-point outperformance on 3-pointers, the game was decided from beyond the arc.

Getting healthy and emphasizing the positives are the keys to the Lakers’ success.

“It’s not rocket science. If we have to, we’ll study the games in which we did well and just replicate them,” Reaves said. We cannot control making shots or missing shots, but we can control effort and playing the right way. You can definitely look back and see where we were last year and how we finished the season, carrying that momentum into the playoffs.”

James’ availability against the Spurs was discussed by Lakers coach Darvin Ham following Thursday’s game.

“We’ll get an official word (Friday morning) and see what happens, but he’s likely to be out there (Friday night).”

After a 127-122 loss to Sacramento on Thursday, the Spurs travel south. The rookie Victor Wembanyama scored 19 points and added 13 rebounds to lead six San Antonio players in double-figure scoring. Off the bench, Keldon Johnson had 18 points and Jeremy Sochan had 16.

In the third quarter, San Antonio trailed by 11 points and by nine with 10:18 left in the fourth before roaring back to take the lead on a Wembanyama three-point play with 2:53 to play. Sacramento closed the game with an 11-2 run after Vassell hit a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession.

Gregg Popovich, San Antonio’s coach, said, “We made mistakes; they made mistakes.” “We make a lot of mistakes as a team. But (my team) plays its socks off, and we got it to where it was under two minutes to go. I am so proud.”

As a result of their first six games of their nine-game Rodeo Road Trip, the Spurs have lost two straight games and nine of their past 10.

Both of San Antonio’s games this season have been played in San Antonio. In the first game on Dec 13 the Lakers won 122-119, but the Spurs won 129-112 two nights later, snapping a franchise-record 18-game losing streak.

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