On the heels of three straight losses, the Spurs regarded to proper the ship in opposition to the Lakers as they confronted off on Monday evening, leading to a 126-102 victory in La La Land.
The sport didn’t get off to a very good begin for the black and silver. LA jumped out to an early 7-0 lead as a consequence of some sloppy protection from the Spurs, forcing Mitch Johnson to do his greatest Pop impression by calling a timeout simply two minutes in. That appeared to get up the Spurs, as they responded by hitting threes and taking higher care of the ball. Nonetheless, the Lakers had been in a position to generate beauty of their very own, resulting in their function gamers making triples of their very own.
In fact, followers didn’t tune in to observe the likes of Rui Hachimura or Austin Reaves. Everybody was anticipating the matchup between the Alien and the King, they usually delivered. After Wemby made a deep three, LeBron tried to reply with considered one of his personal, however he did not convert. Undeterred, he continued to assault the French phenom, exhibiting off his outdated man power. Answering the bell, Wemby made one other three to maintain the Spurs within the recreation. As quickly as he left the sport, although, LA went on a small run, leading to them constructing a double-digit lead.
Thankfully for San Antonio, they shortly made up floor by way of a flurry of dunks. Wemby first made a two-handed jam operating straight down the center in transition. Then, Devin Vassell attacked Anthony Davis with none hesitation and threw down a vicious slam on arguably the second-best defensive participant within the league. Lastly, after one other LA turnover, Wemby made his second dunk in as many minutes with nobody within the neighborhood of Space 51. And similar to that, the Spurs had tied the sport.
San Antonio maintained their momentum going into the fourth. With Wemby and the younger guys on the bench, it was now the vets’ flip to shut out the sport. CP and Harrison Barnes managed the offense and slowed down the sport, guaranteeing that no Lakers comeback was in place.
Ultimately, the Spurs rode their late momentum to a 126-102 victory over LA. The rating is extra lopsided than how the sport performed out, but it surely was nonetheless a really encouraging consequence that snapped a mini-skid for San Antonio.
Sport notes
Ho hum, Wemby completed with 23 factors, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and a pair of blocks. It was a pleasant bounceback on condition that he had simply 10 factors final Wednesday in opposition to Milwaukee. Extra importantly, he regarded extra rejuvenated after virtually per week between video games, as he appeared torpid in that match in opposition to the Bucks. With that mentioned, I might’ve preferred him to assault the paint extra since AD was in foul bother for a lot of the evening, and but Wemby did most of his harm on the perimeter. Had he determined to play extra down low, he may’ve gotten simpler factors with Davis not eager to foul out.
I proceed to be impressed by how unfazed Stephon Citadel is. Quite the opposite, he appears to excel in video games in opposition to the most important stars. On Monday evening, Citadel dropped 23 factors on 10-16 capturing and appeared to make it his mission to assault LeBron and AD. He was profitable on a number of events, and in typical Steph trend, there wasn’t even a touch of a smile on his face.
Vassell continued his sturdy play, ending with 23 factors, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists on 9-18 from the sector and 5-9 from three. His capturing has turned a nook after a sluggish begin, but it surely’s his explosiveness that’s essentially the most encouraging. We noticed him make various explosive dunks final week, however none had been extra spectacular than the one on Monday in opposition to AD. It’s truthful to say that he’s lastly over his knee damage and is wanting like, properly, Devin Vassell once more.
Play of the sport
Are these guys gearing up for the All-Star recreation?
Subsequent recreation: vs Memphis on Wednesday
The Spurs will look to make it two in a row in opposition to a resilient Memphis crew that’s presently third within the Western Convention.
