With so many ailing players on the sidelines, the Los Angeles Lakers fell behind big early and eventually lost to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night.
The Lakers had beaten the Spurs just a couple of days ago, but the young San Antonio roster took it to Los Angeles in order to snap their 18-game losing streak. The Lakers looked clearly out of sync on both ends of the floor and their defense was a mess without Anthony Davis.
Victor Wembanyama put up a valiant fight against Davis in their previous matchup, but was quieter in the rematch as he only scored 13 points. However, Wembanyama was a massive deterrent in the painted area and made other plays to help lift San Antonio past Los Angeles.
LeBron James finally got his first look of Wembanyama up close and didn’t waver on his original comments about the French phenom, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Nothing has changed from what I’ve already said about him previously,” James said. “Special talent, they got a good one here.”
One play that fans will remember is when James had Wembanyama guarding him in the corner and somehow managed to drain a high-arcing 3-pointer over the overstretched arm of the 2023 No. 1 overall pick. After the game, James explained how he was able to get the shot to go:
“Just tried to get his hands down a little bit because I know his wingspan and I know he’s able to block shots outside his comfort. So just tried to create a little bit more room, shoot a little bit higher and was able to knock it down.”
It was quite the play from James who looked like he was going to get blocked, but fortunately he was able to get the shot to go. However, the Lakers would end up taking the loss to close their road trip and must go back to the drawing board.
Meanwhile, San Antonio is on their way to another high draft pick though Wembanyama’s development is the only thing that matters this season.
Victor Wembanyama studied Anthony Davis before coming to NBA
Wembanyama is a generational player given his blend of size, length and agility and perhaps there’s no better player for him to emulate than Anthony Davis. Like Wembanyama, Davis doesn’t move like a traditional big man and has guard skills that make him a versatile offensive weapon.
Wembanyama later admitted that Davis is one of the players he studied before making the leap from overseas and there are definitely shades of his game that would remind someone of the Lakers star.
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