The Lakers vs. the Spurs, the last game lost to the Mavericks, and the state of the whole team was not ideal, and in the face of the Spurs, who suffered 18 consecutive defeats, the Lakers actually chose to take turns to rest the main team. At the beginning of the game, the Lakers officially announced the news that Davis missed today's game due to adductor and hip injuries, and Russell and Reddish were absent along with Davis. Ham's tactics allowed Christie and Hayes to take the starting position, and the game gave the Spurs the upper hand, and the team failed to win without Davis' defensive pillar, only the single-core James scored 23 points, 7 rebounds and 14 assists in the game, and it is worth mentioning that Davis won the game in the last game.
At the beginning of the game, James predicted Wembanyama's ball-handling attack in advance and contributed a wonderful tomahawk slam on the road. However, the Lakers scored only 8 points in the opening game, and the Spurs were aggressive from the outside in a row, and the first timeout allowed the Spurs to play a 21-8 offense. Due to the team's roster problems, the Lakers' two-way player Hodge was given playing time, and the Spurs had an 18-point lead over the Lakers before the first quarter of the game ended. Only Reaves was in outstanding form in the first quarter, with 11 points and 2 rebounds on 4-of-8 shooting in a single quarter, the Lakers scored 22 points in the first quarter, and Reaves alone accounted for half of the points, the Lakers shot 8-of-24 in the first quarter, while the Spurs shot 16-of-25.
The second quarter of the game turned James into a bitter master. For five minutes, James slammed into the basket with the ball, and Collins hit James' eye as he tried to block him, which he had already applied ice to his eye during the timeout. Immediately after James hit the basket with his back, Wembanyama tried to block James, but hit James in the face again, and James was also in facial pain. After James was hit in the face twice, the referee only blew for a normal foul, and the referee did not replay any response. Fortunately, James' form was not affected, staring at Wembanyama's high-arc three-pointer, James's three-pointer helped the team narrow the gap to just six points.
In the second quarter of the game, James handed out 9 assists in a single quarter, tying the record for the highest number of assists in a single quarter in his career. At the beginning of the third quarter of the game, Ham still did not adjust the lineup, obviously at the end of the second quarter the team's lineup played a counterattack, but Ham still insisted on starting, Christie and Hayes failed to help the team. In the 10th minute of the third quarter, Hayes tried to block under the basket, but it turned out to be the same old problem, and James was also teaching Hayes that he didn't need to press down to get off and just raise his arms. With the Spurs' Vassell and Wembanyama hitting three-pointers, the margin was once again widened to a 15-point gap, and such a lineup was beaten by nearly 15 points in the first quarter.
With trailing by 16 points, James was mistakenly injured by his own teammates. In the process of protecting the rebound, Hachimura's elbow smashed directly into James's nosebone, and James also fell to the ground in pain. James's face was clearly visible during the timeout, and the team doctor also immediately checked James's condition, and was hit in the face three times by teammates and opponents in a game, and the team doctor also said that James almost suffered a nasal fracture. At the end of the third quarter, Reeves scored 2 three-pointers to chase himself, but Ham adjusted the lineup again with a big wave of his hand, and Reeves was in a very low mood, and he was directly paralyzed on the return to the bench, and the team doctor immediately stepped forward to check Reeves' condition.
After Reaves was replaced, James led the team to fight back again, and James stole the opponent and scored again. As a result, after entering the fourth quarter, the Lakers' defense had problems again, and the basket could not limit the Spurs' scoring, and they still failed to score. James didn't score a layup under a fast-break basket, and he just gave up defense. With half of the game remaining, Ham directly replaced the main lineup and lost to the Spurs. Now the Lakers have finally hit the 15th place in the West, and Ham's decision is also directly buried a game victory, the team did not choose to rest in the game against the Mavericks, but chose to rest against the Spurs.
In this game, James only scored 23 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals on 7-of-17 shooting, but his plus/minus on the court was -28. This game is enough to prove the gap between James and Davis, Davis staying on the court has helped the Lakers a lot, although James played 20+ but was unable to lead the team to victory. Reaves continued the performance of the previous game, with 22 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists on 8-of-18 shooting and 4-of-10 three-point shooting. The Lakers had multiple chances to close the gap and reverse in this game, but Ham's adjustment allowed the team to miss out on the victory again.
Ham was unimpressed after the game, saying: "It's a long-term game and we have to make sure the players are fit for the team. Davis suffered an ankle injury, not a hip injury, Russell's body was a little uncomfortable, and Reddish had a knee injury. Reeves came off with cramps and thankfully his injury wasn't serious. We have fewer people to rotate for this game, and with a healthy body, I'm still optimistic about the team,"