Los Angeles Lakers propelled by LeBron James past the San Antonio Spurs

The Los Angeles Lakers looked to get their first win against the San Antonio Spurs on a Wednesday night battle between Western Conference rivals.

The Los Angeles Lakers looked to keep their win streak alive against the struggling San Antonio Spurs, who came into this game having just gotten blown out by the Utah Jazz in their last outing.

For the Lakers, they had lost their last two meetings against the Spurs, so they were looking for a little bit of redemption for those two games earlier this season.

The Lakers started this game, however, by missing two free throws from the jump.

But then Kyle Kuzma gave the Lakers their first points of the game with a 3-pointer to open.

The Lakers started solid on defense and it was apparent that they looked better than they did in their first two meeting against the Spurs.

However, things took a turn for the worst as Brandon Ingram rolled his ankle on the foot of LaMarcus Aldridge midway through the first quarter and left the game with a sprained left ankle.

The last thing the Lakers can afford right now is injuries and this is a big one for the Lakers. Aldridge was ultimately called for a Flagrant 1 foul after the fact as it was shown that Aldridge placed his feet underneath Ingram’s feet, giving him insufficient room to land.

Afterward, Josh Hart came into the game for Ingram, but unfortunately, Hart picked up three fouls in his first few minutes on the court and was forced back to the bench.

This was a really physical game, especially in the first quarter with multiple foul calls, including a flagrant foul, and multiple shots to the head that guys like LeBron were seemingly taking every possession.

Nevertheless, after a hammer dunk by Lonzo Ball, the Lakers closed out the quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 31-23 lead after one quarter.

Because of the foul trouble and the injury to Ingram, Luke Walton was forced to put out a lineup to start the second quarter that didn’t really seem to get much done. A lineup of Michael Beasley, Lance Stephenson, Svi Mykhailiuk, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and JaVale McGee isn’t the lineup that I think Luke Walton wants to put on the floor early in the second quarter of a close game.

The Lakers did a good job of taking LaMarcus Aldridge out of his rhythm, and Lonzo Ball was one of the bright spots for the Lakers in the first half as he had seven points and seven rebounds in the first 24 minutes, essentially affecting the game in every way possible.

The Lakers played well enough, but they started to get sloppy with the basketball and they were once again visited by the 3-point demon. They failed to convert on many of their 3-point attempts, as KCP was the only player to connect from deep in the first half.

This problem carried into the third quarter, which saw the Lakers defensive effort slip as they gave up 16 points to Rudy Gay in the quarter alone.

With Ingram out and LeBron on the bench for most of the quarter, it was difficult for the Lakers to find scoring, especially in their second unit.

Mykhailiuk had some great open looks but could only convert on one of his 3-point attempts.

The Spurs capitalized off of the Lakers sloppy defense and atrocious 3-point shooting to take an 82-78 lead going into the fourth quarter.

It wasn’t a good third quarter for the Lakers, and at the start of the fourth quarter, it looked like the Lakers were going to blow this game and drop their third game this season against the Spurs.

But, midway through the 4th, you could see the Lakers start to pick up the intensity.

Kyle Kuzma, who was relatively quiet through the first three quarters, came alive in the fourth, delivering some much-needed baskets down the stretch.

But, LeBron was the driving force in the fourth quarter. He had his hands in every single play taking over with a ferocious drive to the basket as well as creating open 3-point shots for Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart.

LeBron scored 19 points in the fourth quarter and finished the game with 42 points and six assists. Kyle Kuzma finished with 22 points and nine rebounds as LeBron’s dagger 3-pointer with just over a minute left sealed the 4th straight win for the Lakers.

The Lakers are absolutely rolling right now and that is a great thing to see if you’re a Lakers fan.

It’s just truly unfortunate that the Lakers have to go through an injury to Brandon Ingram, who is such a crucial piece to this team. Although it doesn’t sound like anything severe, we can only hope that Brandon doesn’t miss significant time because of this injury.

The race in the Western Conference is so incredibly tight and an injury for any team can be the difference between making and not making the playoff.

But for now, let’s hope we get some positive news on Brandon Ingram.