The Lakers have now won four in a row closing their homestand with a good victory. The Spurs who were thrashed by the Jazz last night have now dropped to the 14th rank in the Western Conference playoff standings. The Lakers took a 5 point lead in the first half but struggled mightily in the third quarter where the Spurs fought back to take an 8 point lead.

Brandon Ingram featured only for 5 minutes in the game. He left the game early in the first quarter with an ankle sprain. The Lakers go back on road on Friday night to play the San Antonio Spurs again. Here are some key takeaways from this encounter:

#3 Struggle for the Lakers bench unit:

With Rajon Rondo already out and Brandon Ingram suffering an injury early on in the match, the Lakers bench unit was left short-handed. To aggravate the situation, Josh Hart got into foul trouble and could only play 13 minutes in the match, most of them in the fourth quarter.

The bench unit could not hang on with the Spurs and they let the early lead slip quite easily. None of them were efficient from the floor. Caldwell Pope led the bench unit with 12 points on 3-7 shooting from the field. Mykhailiuk had to play extra minutes because of Hart and Ingram’s absence but failed to produce any impact. He shot 1-7 from the field and 1-5 from the 3PT line.

The Lakers had to play massive minutes to James, Ball and Kuzma because of poor production from their bench players.

#2 Nice performances from the Spurs trio:

The Spurs had DeMar DeRozan, Rudy Gay and LaMarcus Aldridge to score massively for them. These three kept them in the game scoring buckets after buckets. Aldridge and DeRozan had already torched the Lakers in the earlier games this season. This time Rudy Gay also decided to join in.

After going for 0 points in the previous game against the Jazz, Gay was on point right from the get-go. He scored 31 points for the Spurs and was providing scoring at all the crucial junctures in the game. DeMar DeRozan once again led the team in scoring going for 32 points. Aldridge scored 21 points in the game having already produced a 37 point performance in the first game between the two teams.

The Spurs did not get much production from anyone else and shot just 25% from beyond the arc which ultimately led to their downfall in the game.

#1 LeBron James heroics:

LeBron James had another one of those nights when he was untouchable. James went off for 42 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists for the game on 15-24 shooting from the field and 3-7 from the 3PT line. James scored 20 points in the fourth quarter alone rallying the Lakers comeback.

Lonzo Ball provided ample support to James. He had 14 points and 9 assists and played a season-high 39 minutes. Kyle Kuzma scored 22 points to go along with 9 boards and 5 assists.

James is quite easily the best player in the world and is having another out of the world season with the Lakers. He is a front-runner for the MVP award at the moment and it won’t be surprising if he walks away with his fifth MVP award this season.

The Lakers have now improved to 15-9 for the season and are currently lying fifth in the loaded Western Conference.

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