Saturday was the second night in a row the Los Angeles Lakers took on the San Antonio Spurs at AT&T Center.
While Friday’s contest was a low-scoring affair with L.A. winning 105-94, Saturday’s tilt was a definite shootout.
Even without Anthony Davis out due to a calf contusion, the Lakers found points rather easy to come by. But so did San Antonio, as it got out to an 11-point lead in the second quarter.
But the Lakers recovered to go up 70-68 at halftime, and they stretched their lead a bit in the third quarter.
That’s when things got a bit chippy. Spurs forward Zach Collins committed a flagrant foul on Westbrook that drew blood, and Westbrook was visibly mad as a result.
Russell Westbrook takes a shot from Zach Collins and is bleeding from his forehead 😳pic.twitter.com/SXDNXnvSlL
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) November 27, 2022
But L.A. kept its emotions in check and got a 143-138 win to move to 7-11 on the season, despite giving up 66 points in the paint and 39 fast-break points.
LeBron James: A
In his second game back from a strained adductor, James was dominant offensively to pick up the slack without Davis. He shot 11-of-21 overall to finish with 39 points and 11 rebounds.
So far this season, James has struggled from the 3-point line, but tonight he went 7-of-12 from downtown. He was moving around fairly well and showed no ill effects from his adductor ailment.
Troy Brown Jr.: B-
Brown was quiet overall, but he did hit 2-of-3 shots from the field. He contributed six points, two rebounds, three assists and one steal.
Thomas Bryant: A-
With Davis out, Bryant got 18 minutes and did a good job of moving without the ball and protecting the rim. He scored nine points while missing just one of his four shot attempts, while blocking three shots and getting four rebounds.
Dennis Schroder: A+
For the first time since coming back from a thumb injury, Schroder looked like the Schroder of old. He was hot, going 6-of-10 overall, 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. The German native finished with 21 points and six assists in 31 minutes.
Lonnie Walker IV: A
After scoring just six points in the first three quarters, Walker got hot in the fourth quarter to help the Lakers pull away. He ended up 7-of-10 overall and 3-of-5 from downtown, giving him 19 points.
Walker also contributed in an area he usually doesn’t excel in by grabbing five rebounds.
Wenyen Gabriel: A+
Gabriel picked up the slack admirably for the injured Davis. He usually isn’t much of a scoring threat outside of garbage baskets, but tonight, he went 5-of-8 to score 15 points, to go along with four rebounds and two blocks in 22 minutes.
He even hit 2-of-4 from 3-point land, with one of those treys coming on a heave to end the first quarter.
Russell Westbrook: D+/C-
It was another bad offensive night for Westbrook, who shot just 4-of-12 from the field and 3-of-6 from the free throw line while missing all three of his 3-point attempts and committing six turnovers.
He did help the Lakers’ cause with eight rebounds, six assists and one block though, and he deserves credit for holding his emotions in check after sustaining that flagrant foul from Collins.
Austin Reaves: A
Reaves is continuing his emergence as a valuable role player. He’s not a primary scoring threat by any means, but he’s proving he can score around the margins and provide decent support for his more talented teammates.
He made all but one of his seven shot attempts to score 16 points in 31 minutes while adding two assists, two rebounds and one steal.
Kendrick Nunn: A-
In 15 minutes, Nunn did his job well by going 3-of-6 from the field and 1-of-2 from deep to score seven points.
