The Los Angeles Lakers hosted the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday night looking for their third straight win.
The Lakers were without LeBron James for the fourth consecutive game due to an adductor strain, although the Spurs were also without one of their best players in Jakob Poeltl.
Ultimately, the Lakers were able to continue their winning ways with a blowout 123-92 victory to improve to 5-10 on the season.
In Poeltl’s absence, the Lakers were aggressively attacking the paint early. Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves each got a pair of easy buckets as L.A. took a 13-6 lead into the first timeout.
Davis has been a beast in the paint since James went down with the injury, which has been key for the Lakers’ recent turnaround. Things were the same early in this game as his teammates went to him early and often.
Davis finished the first quarter with 18 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. Russell Westbrook also came in and contributed with five quick points off the bench to give the Lakers a 34-20 lead through one.
In their second game back, Dennis Schroder and Thomas Bryant looked a lot more comfortable than their debuts as they helped build the lead even larger to start the second with a layup each.
But after the Lakers got their lead up to 19, they got a little sloppy with some silly turnovers to allow the Spurs to get back in it. L.A.’s lead was cut to 10 before Westbrook stopped a long scoring drought by finding Bryant for consecutive layups. Reaves then found Bryant for a poster dunk that got James and the rest of the Laker bench on their feet.
Lonnie Walker IV also got going offensively late in the second quarter against his former team with a 3 and a layup. After another nice stretch led by Reaves, the Lakers got their lead up to 66-48 going into the halftime locker room.
The Lakers carried their hot shooting into the second half as they began the third quarter on an 8-0 run, forcing another Spurs timeout. Even Patrick Beverley got in on the action with a 3 as L.A. worked its lead to 30.
San Antonio did go on a 10-0 run with the Lakers getting lazy towards the end of the third quarter. That forced Darvin Ham to put Davis back in the game and he immediately helped put it back out of reach with the Lakers leading 95-67 through three.
With the Lakers earning a rare blowout victory, Davis was able to earn some early rest. It was another dominant night for the Lakers big man, finishing an incredible +37 with 30 points, 18 rebounds, two assists, three steals and a block.
The fourth quarter also allowed some players like Kendrick Nunn, Schroder and Bryant to build a rhythm by getting some shots up, which should benefit the Lakers moving forward as they get set to his the road.
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