On another night of the NBA Emirates World Cup, the Los Angeles Lakers hit the road for a game against Victor Wembanyama, Chris Paul, and the San Antonio Spurs. In the West Group B, the Lakers came into Friday’s game with a clean slate, looking to make a statement against a younger opponent with so much to prove.
While the game was competitive for most of the way, the Lakers did have an edge after taking an 8-point lead into halftime. By the fourth quarter, the Spurs were making several strong comeback attempts, but the Lakers managed to overcome them all and win the game by 5 points (120-115).
As usual, Anthony Davis was the star of the show for the Lakers. He finished with 40 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 assists with 2 blocks on 53.8% shooting from the field. LeBron James wasn’t far behind him with 15 points (6-12 FG), 16 rebounds, and 12 assists for his fourth straight triple-double. He played a team-high 37:49 minutes in the game. In his first start, rookie Dalton Knecht looked like a longtime veteran on the court with 14 points and 3 rebounds on 50% shooting from three. Austin Reaves tallied 19 points, 6 assists, and 3 rebounds on 55.6% shooting from three.
On the other side, Victor Wembanyama tried his best to steal the win and while the Spurs came close, it wasn’t enough to get the win. Victor had 28 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks in the game on 12-25 shooting from the field. Stephon Castle scored 22 points, 4 assists, and 2 rebounds on 58.3% shooting, and veteran point guard Chris Paul dropped 11 points, 11 assists, and 2 steals in 29:16 minutes of action.
The Spurs aren’t the same helpless lottery team they were last year, and the addition of Chris Paul has brought a lot of structure and organization to their offense. Despite that, the Lakers were able to contain their scoring and match with clutch plays of their own. Needless to say, it’s a good win for the Lakers, and much can be learned from how it played out.
LeBron At Point Guard Is The Winning Formula
New head coach JJ Redick has already made a lot of tweaks to the lineup, but his biggest one so far is moving D’Angelo Russell to the bench in favor of Austin Reaves, Cam Reddish, and Dalton Knecht. Naturally, this leaves LeBron James to handle the majority of the point guard duties, a role he was born for.
Tonight, with James as the primary facilitator, the Lakers’ offense ran like a smooth machine, shooting 50% from the field and 44.2% from three. James finished with 15 points, 16 rebounds, and 12 assists in the game, his fourth straight triple-double this season.
As the game was up for grabs down the stretch, LeBron took over as the primary playmaker and decision-maker, ensuring that his team got the best possible shot to keep their lead and win the game. Going forward, we can expect LeBron to continue taking over the point guard role, and the results have been positive so far.
JJ Redick Has The Lakers Moving
If there’s one major difference between this year’s Lakers and last year’s Lakers, it’s that they’re always on the move. Under Redick, the team is constantly utilizing plays to free up shooters or create an open look under the rim. While isolation basketball has been the go-to strategy for past Lakers teams, Redick is making it a point to focus more on ball movement so that the offense can stay somewhat unpredictable.
In one instance in the second quarter tonight, Lakers guard Max Christie resisted a shot attempt after a pass from LeBron James. With a quick and decisive move, he kicked it out to rookie guard Dalton Knecht in the corner, who hit a wide-open three. In another example during the fourth quarter, Anthony Davis demonstrated brilliant patience and timing to hit LeBron James for a driving layup that put the Lakers up three.
The Lakers are fully bought in and invested in JJ Redick’s schemes, and you can see the energy and effort they are playing with through all the movement out there on the court. This Lakers team is playing smart and with more purpose than we’ve seen in a long time, and it could be why they’ve overperformed this season at 8-4.
Signs Of Life From Key Role Players
Depth has been a persistent issue for the Lakers throughout the LeBron James era, but they got some contributions tonight that suggest they might be getting a boost in the rotation. Against the Spurs, two bench players had their best games of the season: Max Christie and Gabe Vincent.
Christie, who was drafted in 2022, has been a work in progress for the Lakers since he joined. He’s shown great promise as a potential two-way guard for the team, and today he played well with 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals in 29:39 minutes. He was a team-high +23.
Gabe Vincent was a huge signing for the Lakers last summer, but he’s barely played on account of his recent injury struggles. He finally looked somewhat healthy tonight with a statine of 6 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 steals on 50% shooting from three.
If the Lakers are to get anywhere significant this year, they will need their role-players to step up and play their part to perfection. Against the Spurs tonight, we saw what the Lakers could look like at their best when everything is clicking. For the Lakers’ sake, they better hope that it’s sustainable, or it could lead to a dramatic crash.
The Lakers will have a chance to prove it as soon as tomorrow against the New Orleans Pelicans. They’ll have the Pels for the second night of a back-to-back, on Saturday, November 16th at 8 PM EST at Smoothie King Center. They face the Jazz on Tuesday for the second game of the Emirates World Cup before a showdown against the Orlando Magic on the 19th.
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