It wasn’t easy, but the Lakers rallied back in the fourth to beat the Spurs 118-117 to extend their winning streak to five.
Luka Dončić ended with 35 points, nine rebounds, 13 assists, five steals and two blocks. Rui Hachimura scored 15 points, going 5-9 from the field. Deandre Ayton pitched in with 22 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.
The game started cold for LA as they struggled to knock down their shots. The only points came from a 3-pointer from Luka. Los Angeles had quickly fallen behind by
seven, but their offense started to come alive and they pulled to within two.
San Antonio was shooting 50% from behind the arc, while the Lakers were shooting a rough 14%.
Julian Champagnie was leading the Spurs with nine points. Luka had six points for LA. At the 6:16 mark, the Lakers were down by six. Los Angeles was doing well defending Victor Wembanyama, who had yet to score any points.
It was a Luka show all quarter as the only other Laker to score more than two points was Dalton Knecht. At the end of the first, the purple and gold were down by three.
Wemby scored off the glass to start the second period.
Bronny was subbed in and converted on his first shot attempt, which was a jumper. Hachimura was now at six points in the half after two jumpers. Luckily for LA, Wemby picked up his third foul, forcing San Antonio to bench him early.
Devin Vassell knocked down his second 3-pointer of the half. More players for LA were starting to find their offense. Hachimura was heating up, scoring five more points. He was the second Laker in double figures.
LA was up by one at the 4:57 mark.
The Lakers had balanced scoring with three players in double figures, and the bench had all scored two or more points. The rest of the quarter was a grind for both teams as they took turns with the lead. At halftime, LA was up by one.
It took a while for either team to find their offense to start the third quarter. Champagnie started cooking for San Antonio with five points. Harrison Barnes also drained two 3-pointers for six points.
Luka and Ayton scored a combined seven for Los Angeles. Smart also pitched in with five points of his own. The game was tied at the 7:23 mark.
Everything started to go wrong for the Lakers as they struggled to score, while the Spurs started making all their shots. It led to them extending their lead to 10. Luka was one for nine in the quarter.
The Lakers made a late surge to cut the deficit to eight points going into the fourth.
LA started the final frame with some hope after a jump shot from LaRavia and Wemby picking up his fifth foul. The Spurs seemed to have an answer each time LA had picked up some momentum.
Ayton scored four points, helping keep Los Angeles within striking distance with 7:39 left in the game.
It was a 7-0 scoring run for LA. Ayton was up to 20 points and had two blocks. After a pair of free throws from Luka, it was a one-point game. Wemby then converted on a free throw. Smart drove to the basket for a layup, which tied the game.
On the other end, Wemby knocked down a jump shot and put San Antonio back in the lead by two. The Spurs committed a foul, which put Smart on the free-throw line, and he knocked down both to tie the game again.
The game got tense as the Lakers went up by one after a clutch 3-pointer from Luka. Wemby was then called for his sixth foul at the 1:39 mark. LA then went up by three after a pair of free throws from Ayton.
A costly turnover from Smart gave the Spurs the ball and the chance to either tie the game or win it with 1.2 seconds left. With .2 seconds left, the refs called a foul on LaRavia, which put Champagnie at the free-throw line. He missed both, sealing the win for LA.
Key Takeaways:
Ladies and gentlemen, the Lakers gave us a comeback that wasn’t fake! Nearly lost it at the end, but we will ignore that.
LA did an impressive job covering Wemby. They made him have a human performance.
The Lakers’ next matchup is Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks at 5:00 PM PT.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.
