Friday’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs was a matchup that featured one of the NBA’s greatest big men in Anthony Davis and a rookie in Victor Wembanyama who could become the best big man or best overall player within five years. The 7-foot-4 French phenom showed everyone why he has that type of potential, especially early in the contest.
Wembanyama scored 13 of the Spurs’ first 15 points as the Spurs went up 15-9. But soon after he went out of the game for his first rest, the Lakers started to assert themselves with 14 unanswered points, which allowed them to take a 13-point first-quarter lead. An 85-70 third-quarter lead got trimmed to 93-90 with 1:12 left in the period, but L.A. got it back into double digits early in the fourth quarter.
The team seemed to be in cruise control for much of the second half, but it was enough for a 123-118 win over the worst team in the Western Conference.
The Lakers have had the annoying habit of playing down to the level of their competition all season long, and that habit was on display at times against the Spurs. But the important thing is the fact that they improved their record to 31-27, and they have now won 12 of their last 18 games.
After Thursday’s loss to the ninth-place Golden State Warriors, a win, even a somewhat lackluster win such as this one, was needed to sustain at least some of their recent momentum.