Spurs Go Winless on Road Trip After Big Loss to Anthony Davis, LeBron James-Less Lakers
The San Antonio Spurs are set to come home to the AT&T Center empty-handed after the conclusion of their five-game West Coast road trip, as the Silver & Black fell 123-92 to the LeBron James-less Los Angeles Lakers at crypto.com arena Sunday night.
Without coach Gregg Popovich, who was not on the bench for the game due to an illness, assistant coach Brett Brown served as acting head coach. This hardly helped remedy what was a brutal shooting night for San Antonio, as the Spurs shot 39 percent from the field and went 7 of 34 from 3-point range.
San Antonio was led by Devin Vassell, who made his return from a one-game absence to post 17 points, four rebounds and four assists. Jeremy Sochan (12 points, six rebounds, three steals) and Tre Jones (10 points, four assists) added contributions, while Keldon Johnson (12 points) struggled through a brutal 4 of 20 shooting night and went 1 of 10 from 3-point range.
The Spurs were without center Jakob Poeltl and the Lakers took advantage on the interior. LA scored 60 points in the paint and were led by star forward Anthony Davis, who totaled 30 points, 18 rebounds, two assists and three steals
Lakers guard Austin Reaves (21 points) and center Thomas Bryant (15 points, nine rebounds) helped complement a dominant night for Davis.
Former Spur Lonnie Walker IV made his first appearance against his old club and played well, posting 14 points and two assists.
The absence of Poeltl was glaring, as the Lakers had 22 paint points in the first quarter and were consistently getting easy looks at the rim early.
Davis dominated early, as he had 18 points and five rebounds in the opening period. He left before the start of the second quarter with an eye injury but eventually returned.
The Spurs were 0 of 10 from 3-point range before Josh Richardson nailed one to begin the second quarter. San Antonio trailed by as many as 19 in the second quarter before cutting the lead to 10. But the Lakers got this back up to 20 before heading into the locker room with a 66-48 lead.
Davis (20 points) was hot at half for the Lakers. Johnson was not, as the Spurs young star was an abysmal 1 of 12 from the field and 0 of 7 from deep in the first half.
Answers were nearly impossible to come by for the Spurs coming out of the locker room. LA's lead ballooned to as big as 34 behind a 19-5 run to begin the third.
Vassell had eight points and Johnson finally got his first 3-point make to begin the fourth, but this proved to serve as nothing more than shooting practice, as the Spurs trailed by more than 20 for the entire quarter.
Much like Saturday's blowout loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, the benches were emptied early in the final frame.
Luckily for the Spurs, they'll have two more upcoming chances to snag a win against the Lakers. After traveling back home to face the New Orleans Pelicans (9-7) on Wednesday, the Spurs will host the Lakers for back-to-back meetings on Friday and Saturday.
You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7
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