When the Lakers opened their homestand with back-to-back wins over the 76ers and Warriors, giving them a three-game winning streak for the first time in a month, it looked like they were primed to head into the All-Star break with momentum on their side.
Forty-eight hours can change a lot.
Because once it became clear they’d be without most of their main players on Tuesday night against the San Antonio Spurs, with Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves among the players who were in street clothes on the team’s bench, it was all but certain that the Lakers were going to drop back-to-back games after losing to the first-place Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night.
And Spurs star Victor Wembanyama ensured that would be the case, recording a game-best 40 points (13-of-20 shooting) to go with 12 rebounds en route to handing the Lakers a 136-108 defeat at Crypto.com Arena.
Dendre Ayton and Marcus Smart were also sidelined for the Lakers.
With the Lakers short-handed, Luke Kennard and Drew Timme led the under-manned team with 14 points apiece.
But the Spurs carved up their defense with ease, shooting 56.5% from the field.
What it means
The Lakers dropped to 32-21 on the season, but maintained their No. 5 spot in the Western Conference standings because they own the tiebreaker over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
They’re looking to avoid their third three-game losing streak since mid-December.
Turning point
At 1:06 p.m. on Tuesday.
That’s when the Lakers announced they’d be without Doncic, James, Reaves and Smart.
And an hour before tipoff, Ayton was ruled out, sidelined with what could potentially be their starting lineup when fully healthy.
MVP: Victor Wembanyama
If there were any doubts about what the result of Tuesday’s game would be after it became clear who the Lakers would be without, Wembanyama quickly erased them.
The 7-foot-4 French phenom scored 23 of the Spurs’ first 28 points, and exactly half of the first 46 points of the game between the Lakers and Spurs.
He had 25 first-quarter points through the game’s first eight minutes before being subbed out.
Wembanyama’s first-quarter scoring total was tied for the 10th-most in the play-by-play era (1996-97 season), with his eight minutes in the opening frame being the fewest among those 16 players who’ve scored at least 25 points in a first quarter.
Stat of the game: 26
That’s how many minutes Wembanyama needed to match his season-high scoring total.
He became the third player in league history to score at least 40 points in fewer than 27 minutes, joining Patrick Ewing (1988) and “Sleepy” Floyd (1991).
It was the second-fewest minutes in a 40-point, 10-rebound game behind Ewing.
Up next
The Lakers will continue their homestand, and play their final game before the All-Star break, when they host the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday.
The Mavericks have lost eight straight games, with their losing streak starting when they fell to the Lakers on Jan. 24 in Dallas.
