Offensively, the Los Angeles Lakers had as close to a complete game as they could considering LeBron James was out with a groin injury and Luka Doncic shot 5/20 from the field.
Behind a season-high 34 assists and 19 made 3-pointers the Lakers won their second straight game following a 4-game losing streak, taking care of the San Antonio Spurs 125-109 last Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Austin Reaves led the Lakers with 30 points to go along with seven rebounds and six assists. He’s averaged 30.8 points per game in his last four games. Despite the poor shooting night, Doncic still made a large impact with 21 points, 14 assists, nine rebounds and three steals. He attempted 13 free throws, making 10.
“We continue to build that chemistry, and I think you can tell by the way we’re playing, everybody’s sharing the ball” Reaves said after the game. “Luka obviously causes so much havoc for team’s defenses that the majority of the time you have to blitz him and then you’re playing 4 on 3, so it’s just a fun brand of basketball.”
The Lakers played an almost flawless first half when it comes to taking care of the ball with just two turnovers. They finished with nine turnovers and had a 28-11 advantage in points off turnovers. They got big contributions from the bench with 35 points from the reserves led by Dalton Knecht with 13 points and Gabe Vincent with 11 points.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick said he thought about 70 percent of the Lakers 3s were uncontested. They made 19 out of 48 from 3-point range, tied for their second most makes this season.
Doncic made just one of those 3s, but his passing led to many of the open looks. Redick also created more sets with Doncic coming off screens and playing off the ball. The offense had more variety than the middle pick and rolls Doncic was so used to with the Mavericks.
“Makes my life easier,” Doncic said. “There was one ATO (After Time Out) today that we ran twice for an alley-oop. That explains JJ’s mind, the way he sees basketball, it’s amazing. Me and (Reaves) coming off the ball, it helps me and him and everybody else because we do it with pace and it’s hard to stop us.”
Jaxson Hayes has often been the recipient of those alley-oops. The big man had nine points and 11 rebounds in 28 minutes. It was his second game back after a knee injury which caused him to miss all 4 of the Lakers losses on their recent road trip.
The Spurs were led by Stephon Castle who had 23 points and eight rebounds. San Antonio was without Victor Wembenyama and De’Aaron Fox who are both out with season ending injuries.
Dorian Finney-Smith and Jordan Goodwin each contributed 15 points for Los Angeles, who were also without forward Rui Hachimura. “I think for us to fully unlock our team offense, we need to be whole,” Redick said. “Going back to our group and their responsiveness to everything throughout the season, they’ve generally have done an outstanding job. When we’ve challenged them on certain things, they’ve responded.”
Jarred Vanderbilt of the Lakers and Jeremy Sochan of the Spurs were both ejected after some shoving with 6:27 left in the game.
Bronny James played 2 minutes late in the game, hitting a 3-pointer to loud cheers from the Lakers crowd. He’s made at least one field goal in each of his last seven games with the Lakers.
The Lakers sit in fourth place in the Western Conference as they prepare for Wednesday’s matchup against the third place Denver Nuggets who have a one game lead over LA in the standings.