After a tough loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, things didn’t get any easier for the Los Angeles Lakers as they hosted the second-seeded San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night.
With it being the second night of a back-to-back, the Lakers were severely shorthanded in this one as Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Austin Reaves, Marcus Smart and Deandre Ayton were ruled out before tipoff. While that gave some other guys an opportunity at extended minutes, the Spurs proved to be too much in a 136-108 loss for the Lakers.
The shorthanded Lakers had no answer for Victor Wembanyama early as he had 25 points in the first seven minutes of the game with both Jaxson Hayes and Maxi Kleber picking up two fouls each.
Despite the hot start from Wembanyama though, the Lakers tried to battle back as Kobe Bufkin and Jake LaRavia connected from deep. That hardly put a dent in their deficit, however as L.A. trailed 47-30 at the end of the first.
The Spurs continued to pour it on in the second quarter as the Lakers were clearly undermanned. Wembanyama was doing whatever he wanted offensively as L.A. had no rim protection.
Unfortunately, Stephon Castle took a hard fall on a block attempt and hit his back, although he was able to get up and walk under his own power before eventually being ruled out for the rest of the night.
Even though the game was already essentially out of reach, it was a chance for other players on the Lakers to get valuable reps and Bronny James hit a triple at the end of the half to cut it to 84-55 going into the locker room.
LaRavia had five fouls in the first half and picked up his sixth early in the third quarter, so he joined the rest of the usual Lakers starters on the bench for the rest of the night.
The Spurs maintained their big lead as it was 115-81 going into the fourth quarter. At that point, it was just an opportunity for the young Lakers players to continued to get NBA reps in a low-pressure environment.
Adou Thiero notably made his return after missing the last month with a knee injury, playing the final few minutes of the blowout and throwing down a monster dunk.
In just 26 minutes of action, Wembanyama led the way with 40 points and 12 rebounds on 13-of-20 shooting.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers will close out the first half of the regular season on Thursday night against the Dallas Mavericks before getting a much-needed week off for the All-Star break.
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