The Los Angeles Lakers picked up another win by defeating the San Antonio Spurs 125-109 to improve their record to 42-25 this season. This win helped them stay competitive while key starters LeBron James and Rui Hachimura remain sidelined.
Austin Reaves led the squad with 30 points (12-21 FG), seven rebounds, and six assists while Luka Doncic had 21 points (5-20 FG), nine rebounds, 14 assists, and three steals. Jordan Goodwin put up 15 points (6-9 FG) and three steals complemented by Dorian Finney-Smith’s 15 points (5-12 FG). Dalton Knecht came off the bench for 13 points (4-10 FG).
The Spurs had rookie Stephon Castle lead them in scoring with 23 points (8-19 FG) and eight rebounds. Devin Vassell contributed 17 points (6-13 FG) and eight rebounds while Jeremy Sochan came off the bench for 15 points (7-9 FG). Chris Paul had a well-rounded game with nine points (3-7 FG), six rebounds, and eight assists.Â
Let’s take a deeper look at this game and analyze its major takeaways.
Lakers Defense Continues Being Their Backbone
The fourth-quarter comeback from the Spurs against the Lakers bench has skewed some of the offensive numbers in this game, but the Lakers were executing their defensive dominance to a high degree through the first three-quarters of the game, blowing the Spurs out and making their potential comeback chances as slim as possible.
San Antonio had scored 75 points through the first three quarters before a 34-point explosion in the fourth to make the Lakers sweat for the win. They shot 41-88 (46.4 FG%) from the field and 15-38 (39.5 3P%) from three. Their shooting was relatively hot all night but the team really did struggle to create as many open opportunities as they would’ve liked due to the Lakers swarming defense.
The Lakers have had the best defensive rating in the NBA over the last 31 games, proving their dominance on that end despite missing key pieces and undergoing major roster changes in that span. After a point, we have to admit that whatever defensive philosophy JJ Redick has built into the roster over this season has worked tremendously well and made the Lakers extremely portable across circumstances.
Clean Offensive Margins
Only three Lakers players (Luka Doncic, Dalton Knecht, Dorian Finney-Smith) on the night shot under 50% from the field, with the entire roster having a mostly efficient game. The team as a whole went 44-90 (48.9 FG%) from the field and 19-48 (39.6 3P%) from three, mixing in a much higher volume with solid efficiency to give themselves a double-digit cushion for most of the contest.
We will discuss Luka Doncic’s rough shooting splits on the Lakers, we have to credit him for the impact he’s had as an on-ball creator for the franchise. It’s no coincidence that almost every role-player shot well while Doncic had 14 assists, as the Spurs’ defensive strategy looked to contain Doncic’s production while living with what the others did.
This strategy killed them, as Doncic’s playmaking genius facilitated easy buckets for everyone he shared the floor with. You have to pick your poison defensively with Doncic because if you try to make it hard for him as a scorer like the Spurs did tonight, you have to be careful about him not killing you while making plays for others.
Luka Doncic Needs To Regain His Efficiency
It’s no secret that Luka Doncic has been in the middle of arguably one of the worst shooting stretches of his career since joining the Lakers. He’s averaging 26.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 8.1 assists on the team while shooting 40.0% from the field (20.0 FGA) and 33.6% from three (9.7 3PA).Â
For comparison, Doncic shot 48.7% from the field (23.6 FGA) and 38.2% from three (10.6 3PA) last season while averaging 33.9 points and winning the scoring title.
We haven’t seen this version of Doncic all season. While it might be because of a tumultuous season where he picked up multiple injuries and was subject to a midseason trade, everyone’s waiting for Doncic to regain the form we saw him have last season.
The Lakers are legitimate title contenders at this point, primarily because Doncic is arguably the best Playoff riser in the NBA right now. Everyone’s counting on Doncic to find that version of himself because this regular season has gotten ugly in terms of how many missed shots everyone’s watching him take.
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