Austin Reaves had 30 points with seven rebounds and six assists. Luka Dončić ended the game with 21 points on putrid 5-20 shooting. He did nab nine rebounds, 14 assists and three steals. Dalton Knecht pitched in with 13 points off the bench.
Jordan Goodwin ended with 15 points, three rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocks. Dorian Finney-Smith had 15 points. Jaxson Hayes scored nine points with 11 rebounds. Gabe Vincent had 11 points and was 3-5 from behind the arc.
The Lakers fell behind by five early as the Spurs had a strong offense to start. Three consecutive threes from Jordan, Luka, and Austin put LA in the lead. San Antonio’s rookie sensation Stephon Castle picked up three fouls very quickly and was subbed out.
Los Angeles allowed the Spurs plenty of second-chance opportunities, one of which ended with a 3-pointer by “former” Laker Chris Paul. San Antonio cut the deficit to one, but the Lakers managed to weather that run.
Dalton came in and provided excellent offense with a quick five points. Austin dazzled the crowd with a spin move and converted the three-point play.
The second quarter began with a ferocious dunk from Jarred Vanderbilt. Dalton continued his great scoring with five more points. Dorian drained two 3-pointers, which helped keep the Lakers ahead by 12.
Devin Vassell was keeping the Spurs alive with his impressive offense and he was up to 15 points. Dalton was the only Laker with a good percentage from behind the arc in this half at 66%. Overall, the team was shooting 44%.
Jaxson found himself without a defender after a great fake and took the ball to the basket for an empathic dunk.
Gabe drained his first 3-pointer of the night to add to LA’s growing lead. Castle finally saw some shots go in with five straight points for the Spurs. After a missed 3-pointer from Gabe, Luka grabbed the rebound and took it in for a layup.
Essentially the entire quarter belonged to the Lakers, who led by 14 at halftime.
The first shot for the Lakers in the second half was a missed 3-pointer by Austin. He rectified that by making one shortly after. The Spurs came out flat and couldn’t knock down their shots until Vassell made a layup.
Dorian and Castle drained 3-pointers, suddenly making it a 3-point affair between the teams, but Castle picked up another foul and was subbed out. Luka missed his first four shot attempts of the quarter and only made one free throw.
Jordan’s impressive defense was on display when he stole the ball from CP3. On the other end, Austin drained a jumper by eviscerating Bismack Biyombo’s ankles with a move that had him dancing. Luka then hit Austin with an incredible pass for a layup.
The Lakers were having fun passing and scoring all over the place, with a few misses in between. San Antonio had zero answer for Luka who was finding his teammates for easy shots. Austin was cooking the Spurs and found himself wide open for another 3-pointer.
San Antonio scored nine straight points to end the third, but Los Angeles was up 19.
Keldon Johnson scored first in the final frame, converting on a three-point play. Julian Champagnie then drained a 3-pointer and it caused the Lakers to call timeout to stop this sudden 15-0 run the Spurs had built upon since the end of the third quarter.
The Lakers finally scored with Austin taking it to the basket for a layup. He then drained a 3-pointer, starting his own scoring run. The Spurs did a commendable job chipping away at the lead each time the Lakers added some cusion.
After some shoving and spiciness, Vando and Jeremy Sochan were both ejected from the game. San Antonio started playing harder and making their last-chance effort to steal this game. At the four-minute mark, it was an 11-point lead for LA.
Luka started heating up with four straight points. Gabe drained a big-time 3-pointer and, following that, Austin converted on a layup. Lakers fans were treated with a 3-pointer by Bronny to seal the win.
Key Takeaways:
LA did a good job controlling the ball and playing clean most of the game, they should build on this for future games.
Can’t say enough how much Jordan and Gabe are essential to this team’s success. Both players can not only score but do a lot of dirty work. They’re major x-factors.
The Lakers’ next matchup is against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday at 7:00 PM PT.
