The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Spurs run over Lakers in rout
LOS ANGELES » It was fitting that on Thursday night, the Lakers as a franchise were largely looking back fondly on their 22 years at Staples Center.
It’s hard to feel so warm about the immediate future.
The San Antonio Spurs (13-18) ran over the Lakers, 138-110, in a game that never felt particularly close. Lebron James scored 36 points, Russell Westbrook had 30, but the supporting cast fell flat, with the Spurs bench outscoring their Lakers counterparts 69-20 and the Lakers surrendering the most points they’ve given up in regulation this season.
It was striking how the Spurs, who the Lakers beat with ease back on Nov. 14, decimated the short-handed Lakers, hitting 18 threes on their discombobulated defense.
The four-game slide is the longest of the season so far, and while the Lakers (1617) might have better than a puncher’s odds against the similarly banged-up Brooklyn Nets on Christmas Day, the one-sided loss on Thursday night painted a grim portrait of the franchise’s circumstances. They are winless since Anthony Davis sprained his knee in Minnesota, an event which is expected to keep him out for at least a month.
The Lakers could not capitalize on a valiant effort by its healthy stars. James scored 23 of the team’s first 45 points while burying shots and driving in for kickouts at a superstar level. But it was clear early on – as San Antonio buried their hosts in a barrage of 3-point shooting – that another one of his big performances would be in a vacuum. Westbrook also rallied starting in the third quarter, when he scored 17 of his points while sprinting headlong toward the rim. The peak of this flurry was still frustratingly far out of reach of the Spurs: In quick succession, Westbrook scored on an and-1 drive, then got the crowd rolling with a 3-pointer from the wing to cut the stubborn San Antonio lead to nine.
But the Spurs, who led by double digits for the majority of the night, took both punches in stride. They answered the baskets with a 3-pointer and a reverse layup to Keita Bates-diop, who was a Lakers killer with 30 points.
Coming off the bench, Bates-diop hit all 11 of his field goal attempts, including five 3-pointers. By himself, he outscored the Lakers reserves. The Spurs bench had 69 points total, highlighting just how thin the Lakers’ rotation has become largely in part to positive coronavirus tests.
In total, the Lakers had five players in COVID-19 protocols on Thursday night: Malik Monk, Avery Bradley, Austin Reaves, Kent Bazemore and Trevor Ariza.