LeBron James bounces back to lead Lakers past Spurs

Let’s be clear here…this is not a copy-and-paste post-game report. The Los Angeles Lakers played the second of a back-to-back against the San Antonio Spurs. Where’s the proof? Anthony Davis sat out Saturday’s game against the Spurs because of a left calf contusion. Darvin Ham, via ESPN, spoke on how the injury occurred…

"“He was kicked at some point in the second half [Friday] night and it’s a little irritated, a little bruising,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said before the game. “So just trying to stay ahead of it and be a little cautious and take our time with it. But he’s out.”“We don’t want to push him this early in the season. And when you’re talking about different muscles and ligaments, it’s something that can easily turn into a year-long issue. So just to avoid that, we don’t want to put any additional strain on the area.“The medical people decided it was the right thing to do and I totally agree.”"

The Los Angeles Lakers have officially found an NBA team that they can beat up with ease in the San Antonio Spurs handing them a “buck-forty” in a 143-138 shootout. The Lakers average 110 points per game which in 20th ranked in the NBA. Against the Spurs, they have set season highs…twice.

In other news…LeBron James is good.

The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

Dennis Schroder might have banished Patrick Beverley from the starting lineup!

Patrick Beverley is the worst shooter in the NBA at less than 27 percent. He barely looks at the rim to shoot and if he does, opponents barely look at him anyway. We all knew that Dennis Schroder would need a few games to get his scoring stroke (Especially with thumb surgery on his SHOOTING hand!), but he looked good in the first half scoring 16 points on 4-7 shooting.

Dennis finished with 21 points and 6 assists. What makes Dennis more valuable in the lineup is that he puts pressure on the defense which allows more time for the shooters. Plus when he gets to the line, he hits his free throws.

Wenyen Gabriel and Thomas Bryant were very solid as a tandem replacing AD.

Like these two guys were expected to replace a five-game stretch of 33.4 points, 17.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks while shooting 64.4 percent. Oh, that includes a 25-point, 15-rebound and 3-block performance about 24 hours earlier. That wasn’t needed. But they brought energy and effort when they were on the floor.

It was good to see Thomas Bryant back on the floor after getting a DNP-CD on Friday night. If a player drops 15 points and grabs 9 rebounds against a team without missing a shot, he needs to get some burn on the floor.

Wenyen Gabriel continued to make it difficult for the Spurs with his hard rim running and occasional shocking 3-point shots here and there…

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1596679611936477184

Let’s all be happy that AD’s injury is not serious and he’ll be back next game, but these two players combined have shown they can hold down the fort if Davis needs time off.

• Thomas Bryant finished with 9 points and 4 rebounds.    
• Wenyen Gabriel finished with 15 points, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks. His two “and one” plays put the game away.   

That Austin Reaves kid…can just play the game of basketball!

There are plenty of athletic basketball players in the NBA that can score. There are not many that understand how the game is played to be effective for their respective teams. Austin Reaves totally understands his NBA assignment. Man, this dude is fun to watch because he’s so smooth. Nothing seems to faze him. He even looked at the basket in this game to shoot with great results.

He finished with 16 points on 6-7 shooting. He needs his starting spot back though.

Man…

The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

Did we mention that Anthony Davis did not play in this game?

There will always be talk about AD needing to be traded because…Lakers fans always complain when players are not playing well. But if this game didn’t show how important Anthony Davis is to this franchise, nothing will. In his absence, the Los Angeles Lakers were a totally different team on both ends of the floor. Particularly on defense.

The Lakers were lucky Jakob Poeltl got injured and did not return. He was killing the frontline players on the backboards and he actually got hurt outrunning the Lakers on a fast break for a slam dunk. After he left the game, the Spurs wasn’t the same.

Russell Westbrook had it rough, didn’t he?

The one thing we can all agree on with the Russell Westbrook era is that it will be an adventure. Whether he plays well or stinks up the joint, it is entertaining to watch. Physically, this dude took a beating.

• First, he banged knees with a Spurs player that forced the Lakers to call timeout.
• Then there was this…

• Then Russ got a technical foul!

Dude can’t catch a break. He finished with 11 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.

The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

LeBron James played a lot better than in the previous game…

Bottom line, LeBron James had it going in this game, particularly from beyond the arc and the free throw line. LeBron finished 7-11 from the land of the extra point while hitting all of his ten free throws for 39 points. Add on 11 rebounds and 3 assists, he was the man tonight.

Now we all get to sit back and see if he can take a backseat and support Anthony Davis when he gets back because unlike this game, AD is the number one option and has to be for this season to work out somewhat.

Lakers getting priced out of the trade fans have been begging for

Los Angeles Lakers fans have begged for the team to make one specific Russell Westbrook trade and the team might have waited too long.

Lonnie Walker IV is figuring out how to pick his spots to score! 

This is a very important skill with a team that has at least four ball-dominant players. For three quarters, Lonnie was close to being in the “The Bad” section of this post. No one could find him. But in the last 12 minutes, “Sky Walker” went on a scoring explosion of his own to finish with 19 points. All of his points were important to keep San Antonio from getting any ideas.