Collins will likely appeal penalty
Spurs forward/center Zach Collins said he probably will appeal the flagrant foul 2 that resulted in his ejection late in the third period of Saturday’s 143-138 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Referees upgraded Collins’ original foul against Russell Westbrook. With the Spurs trailing 97-92, Collins came down on Westbrook with his right elbow as the point guard went up with a shot in the lane.
The blow knocked Westbrook to the court and opened a bloody gash on his forehead. He got up and charged at Collins but was held back by Lebron James, who quickly pressed a towel against the cut.
“I blocked the first one, and I shouldn’t have jumped on the pump fake, but I jumped,” Collins said. “And then the worst thing you can do is give up an and-one in that situation, so I was just trying to come down and hit his arm so the ball wouldn’t get up to the rim. Unfortunately, my elbow just caught his head and he started bleeding and it looked terrible.
“But I honestly wasn’t trying to do anything. I just didn’t want him to get a shot off.”
Said Spurs point guard Tre Jones, “It was a hard foul…but I don’t think Zach meant anything by that. He was just trying to prevent him from making the and-one.”
The Spurs could ill afford to lose Collins after center Jakob Poeltl and power forward Jeremy Sochan went to the locker room in the second quarter with game-ending quad injuries. The Spurs began the game shorthanded with backup forward Keita Bates-diop out with an ankle injury and reserve guard Josh Richardson sidelined for the third straight game with a sprained ankle.
In just his second game back after missing 10 in a row with a non-displaced fracture of his left fibula, Collins had an outing he won’t soon forget. With his parents in the stands after flying in from Las Vegas for Thanksgiving, Collins had perhaps his best all-around game of the season with 12 points on 4 of 6 (2 of 3 from deep), a season-high-matching eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal in 19 minutes.
The ejection added to what’s been another starcrossed season for Collins.
“I was in a good rhythm, and we were winning games, to go out in the middle of all that was super frustrating,” Collins said of his leg fracture. “With everything I went through before that, being out for a couple of years (with ankle and shoulder injuries), I didn’t want to miss any time for the rest of my career. But luckily the bright side was there was no surgery. That gave me a better attitude.”
Popovich praises depleted team’s effort
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich left the AT&T Center thrilled with the way his depleted team kept fighting before falling to the Lakers.
Lebron James scored a season-high 39 points, and Dennis Schroder and Lonnie Walker added 21 and 19, respectively, to lead L.A. to its third win over the Spurs in a week.
The Lakers (7-11) held their largest lead of the game, 16 points, with 8:33 left, but the Spurs (6-15) never gave in despite losing yet another player when Isaiah Roby fouled out with 2:41 remaining.
“They have got great character,” Popovich said. “They were fantastic. I am proud of them. They just keep playing. It doesn’t matter what the score is, or who is there or who is not there. They are unbelievably coachable, and they are trying very hard to do what we want them to do.”
Keldon Johnson led the Spurs with 26 points. Tre Jones chipped in a career-high 23 points and a career-best 13 assists, and Devin Vassell contributed 20 points.
The Lakers’ scoring total was a season high for a Spurs opponent. The Spurs’ total was their season high.
The Spurs seemed poised to finally gain a win after they took their largest lead of the game, 11 points, shortly after Poeltl exited with 7:51 left in the first half.
Taking advantage of the absence of Anthony Davis, who suffered a calf injury in Friday’s win over the Spurs, Poeltl had 12 points on 6 of 8 and nine rebounds in 10 minutes.
With the frontcourt severly thinned, Popovich went small with Roby at center, and he responded with 10 points in 16 minutes.
But the Spurs couldn’t overcome James and Walker combining for 27 points in the fourth.
“We fought to the very end,” Jones said. “We just came up short.”
Walker shines against former teammates
In his three games against the Spurs, Walker is averaging 17 points on 52.6 shooting from the field and 45 percent from 3-point range.
“It’s been a grateful few days,” said Walker, who signed with the Lakers in the offseason after four years with the Spurs. “I got to reminisce, look back on good times, see my teammates. That’s my family.”
Walker also left town with a gift from one of the Spurs trainers, a mason jar filled with homemade hot sauce.
“It’s one of the best hot sauces I have ever had in my life,” Walker said.
So what does he plan to put it on?
“At this point, everything. Cereal, ice cream,” Walker joked.