Coming off a win against the New Orleans Pelicans, the Spurs traveled to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers in a game rescheduled from January 11th due to the LA Wildfires. Since their last meeting on January 13th, both teams have looked vastly different. The Lakers, instead of having Anthony Davis and Max Christie, now have Luka Doncic. The Spurs traded Tre Jones and Zach Collins for De’Aaron Fox (even though he didn’t play in this game). Despite getting out to an early seven-point lead, the Spurs quickly lost said lead and were down by 10 after the first quarter. Unfortunately, the Lakers’ lead would only increase after each quarter except the fourth. Even though the Spurs would outscore LA 34-31 in the fourth, the Spurs ultimately lost 129-105.
Stephon Castle led the way with 23 points, eight rebounds, and three assists. This should be the norm to close the season. Devin Vassell also dropped 17 points. Either he or Steph should trade off the title as the leading scorer until next season. All Steph continues to do is amaze and almost cement his ROTY status.
Off the glass! Steph shows off his fastbreak finisher badge and lays one home off the glass!
Jeremy Sochan dropped 15 points, three rebounds, and an assist. He shot an efficient seven of nine from the field and had more than enough highlights to go around. He continues to be a pest on both sides of the ball.
J3R3MY! Sochan’s lone three-pointer came from the corner in the first!
Sochan Slam Pt.1! Steph and Jeremy run the pick-and-roll, and it results in an open Jeremy Jam!
Sochan Slam Pt.2! This time, Jeremy and Harrison Barnes run the give and go that results in another Jeremy Jam!
Sochan Slam pt.3! Julian Champagnie lobs it up to Jeremy for yet another Jeremy Jam! He continues to be in the right place at the right time.
Jeremy and Jarred Vanderbilt got ejected in the fourth after Jeremy took exception to Vanderbilt’s hard foul in the post. Jeremy then threw the ball at Vanderbilt, and then Vanderbilt shoved Jeremy. In what has happened multiple times in his young career, if Jeremy goes down, his opponent usually goes down with him.
Chris Paul dropped nine points, eight assists, and six rebounds. A nice stat sheet stuffer game for CP3, as he shows off the hops for the offensive board and three!
Blake Wesley dropped seven points, five assists, three rebounds, two steals, and a block. In a rare extended appearance, Blake filled the backup point guard role and found Bismack Biyombo (four points, four boards, and one dime) open under the basket for the easy two!
The Spurs were outmanned and outclassed by Luka and Austin Reaves’s squad. Even with LeBron James out due to his groin injury, the Lakers simply were too much for the silver and black. As the season draws closer to the end, you would hope to see extended minutes for Steph, Jeremy, Devin, Blake, and even Malaki Branham.
Finally, here are the full game highlights.
The Spurs take on the New York Knicks at the Frost Bank Center this Wednesday at 7:00 P.M.(CST) on FDSN-SW.