Grades: San Antonio Spurs at Los Angeles Lakers – Game #48
Jeremy Sochan and the Spurs couldn’t finish off the Lakers (Photo via Twitter)
The San Antonio Spurs stumbled down the stretch and lost to the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night by a final score of 113-104. The Spurs dropped to 14-34, while the Lakers improved to 23-26 and completed a sweep of the season series.
In the game’s first three quarters, the good guys did really well. In fact, they led for a majority of the time. Compared to their last outing against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Spurs defense was a lot better.
In the fourth quarter against the Lakers, the Spurs had a one-point lead with nine minutes to go. Sadly, that’s when the wheels fell off. The Silver and Black missed their next 12 shots from the field. By the time they hit a shot, the Lakers had a double-digit lead with four minutes remaining. The Spurs never threatened again.
All in all, San Antonio did okay. Their defense was much improved. They competed on both ends. The loss basically came down to the Spurs hitting 8-of-34 from three-point range and shooting 37.7% from the field. In today’s NBA, you can’t win with those types of shooting numbers.
Spurs at Lakers – Final Grades
Keldon Johnson
The good: Johnson was efficient scoring-wise. He hit half of his six three-point attempts and all four of his free throws. He only turned the ball over once even though he drove the lane with vigor on a number of occasions. The bad: Johnson wasn’t exactly making plays for his teammates, as evidenced by his zero assists. I thought his overall effort level was inconsistent. His defense was poor for the most part.
Grade: C+
Jakob Poeltl
Poeltl was quiet on the offensive end. He rarely looked to impact the proceedings when the Spurs had the ball. That said, he had a couple heady passes and looked comfortable at the free throw line. Defensively, he was pretty good on the boards and moved his feet well on a few possessions — but Poeltl was sub par overall on that end.
Grade: C
Tre Jones
Ouch. Jones had a night to forget in Los Angeles. He was only 3-for-15 from the field and missed all five of his three-point attempts. Not only was Jones missing open threes, he really struggled to convert in the lane. The Lakers collective length gave Jones problems. To his credit, the Spurs starting point guard was able to salvage some of his value by hustling like a madman on defense and making sure San Antonio played at a fast pace.
Grade: C-
Jeremy Sochan
This was another successful evening of growth for Sochan. He did a lot well and did a lot poorly — but the experience he got was valuable. I liked Sochan’s defense and the stubbornness he illustrated on offense. Even when things weren’t going his way, the rookie kept at it and found ways to impact the game positively. He had moments of extreme sloppiness but it wasn’t for a like of effort. (Unfortunately, Sochan left the game late after suffering what appeared to be a leg injury. Let’s hope he makes a speedy recovery.)
Grade: B
Keita Bates-Diop
These days, Bates-Diop seems to either start or not play. Tonight, he started. He actually did really well. He was aggressive offensively and helped the Spurs both in halfcourt sets and in transition. Bates-Diop was strong on the boards and used his forever-and-an-inch wingspan to play the passing lane and alter shots near the rim.
Grade: A-
Josh Richardson
Richardson didn’t do a whole lot right against the Lakers. He shot poorly and he was bad on the defensive end. Richardson gave up penetration too easily and was slow on rotations. The two silver linings were his handful of slick passes and the admirable job he did on the boards.
Grade: C-
Zach Collins
One of the main reasons why the Spurs did so well in the first three quarters was Collins. In fact, going into halftime, Collins was San Antonio’s leading scorer with ten points in 12 minutes. He was attacking mismatches, eating glass on the offensive boards and mixing in smart passes. With not a lot of strong bench play around him, Collins had to carry a bigger load than usual against the Lakers — and he held up. Cool.
Grade: A-
Doug McDermott
McDermott was only 3-for-10 from the floor and played even worse defense than usual. That’s a combination that’s difficult for this year’s Spurs team to overcome. I liked his movement on offense and his shot-selection was fine. For McDermott, it was mostly a matter of him missing shots he’s capable of making. Defensively, the Spurs tried to hide him but it didn’t really work.
Grade: C-
Malaki Branham
Branham played with more confidence tonight. He didn’t exactly take Los Angeles by storm but he looked good on his way to 11 points in 19 minutes. Branham is a natural scorer who can create space and get off clean-looking shots. It feels like the rookie is due to break out with a 20-plus point performance any day now.
Grade: B+
Stanley Johnson
Oof. This was Johnson’s worst game as a member of the Spurs. He tried on defense but wasn’t impacting the game a whole lot on that end. Offensively, he wasn’t good — at all. He dribbled into crowds, his decision-making when making passes was poor and he went scoreless in 14 minutes. Johnson needs to settle down and get back to concentrating on doing the small things and the dirty work. Against the Lakers, he tried to do too much and it got ugly.
Grade: D
Pop
Good stuff from Pop, for the most part. I liked the rotation and starting Bates-Diop ended up being the right call. The Spurs didn’t have enough players shooting well to get a win but Pop helped keep the game competitive for three quarters.
Grade: B+