The Los Angeles Lakers returned home on Friday night, hosting the San Antonio Spurs in the second game of a back-to-back.
It marked the only time this season Victor Wembanyama came to Crypto.com Arena to match up with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and it was the Lakers that came out on top with a 123-118 victory.
Wembanyama got his team off to a nice start, blocking Austin Reaves and then getting fouled by Davis on a 3-point attempt and making all three free throws.
Reaves had a nice response though, throwing a lob to James on the ensuing possession. Wembanyama was still in a groove early, hitting a pair of triples to give his team an advantage. He also drew a second early foul on Davis.
Once Wembanyama went to the bench for the first time though, the Lakers naturally went on a run to take the lead as James started to get going offensively. Davis also took full advantage of Wembanyama being on the bench as the Lakers’ run extended to 14-0, taking their first double-digit lead.
Wembanyama returned to end the quarter and resumed his domination though, cutting the Spurs’ deficit to 30-26 after one.
D’Angelo Russell was celebrating his 28th birthday on Friday so naturally got going offensively with some outside shots to begin the second, quickly getting the lead back to double digits. Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves also got in on the action from deep, although the Spurs heated up as well to stay within striking distance, going into the halftime locker room trailing 66-59.
LeBron came out hot in the third quarter with a pair of triples with Wembanyama also keeping up his strong play for San Antonio.
While the Lakers had a nice start to the third, building the lead back up to 15, the Spurs steadily chipped away to get it down to just three. Reaves had a triple and then Christie hit some free throws to close the quarter though so L.A. help a 97-90 lead going into the fourth.
The Spurs’ youth began to show in the fourth quarter as they had some costly turnovers that led to easy buckets for James and the Lakers. Jaxson Hayes also had a couple big dunks as L.A. started to pull away.
James was going at Jeremy Sochan at will down the stretch, which may have had to do with the Spurs guard calling him out on social media for flopping during last year’s playoffs. He likely was regretting those words in this one as LeBron had his way with them down the stretch and the Lakers ended up cruising to victory.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers go back out of the road now, taking on the Phoenix Suns on Sunday afternoon for the fifth and final time this season.
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