After losing four of their first five road games of the season, the Lakers were encouraged by their performance on Friday in San Antonio, writes Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. Anthony Davis scored 40 points and LeBron James set a personal record with his fourth consecutive triple-double as L.A. pulled out a five-point victory over the Spurs.
“That’s what we want to do,” Davis said. “We want to be just as good of a road team as we are a home team. And we can’t do that if we don’t come out and compete. We’ve been just a different team when we’ve been out on the road. The way we compete, share the ball, play together at home, is totally different than when we get on the other side on the road. So we did that tonight.”
As Woike writes, the play of reserve wing Max Christie was another positive sign for the Lakers. After falling out of the rotation as of late, Christie logged a season-high 30 minutes on Friday with Rui Hachimura out due to a sprained right ankle and was a plus-23 in those minutes, contributing 11 points, three rebounds, and a pair of steals. the 21-year-old said it helped to know that head coach J.J. Redick still had faith in him.
“He has a lot of belief in a lot of us and I think he definitely has a lot of belief in me and I can appreciate that coming from a head coach,” Christie said. “I know you know how I can play and I think tonight was a very good example of that, when I’m just out there playing free, playing the way I know I can play instead of just trying to over-complicate things.”
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Draymond Green‘s foul on Zach Edey in the third quarter of the Warriors‘ win over the Grizzlies on Friday has been upgraded to a flagrant 1, the league announced today (via Twitter). As Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal writes, the Grizzlies were upset that the foul wasn’t reviewed at the time after Green appeared to pin Edey’s lower leg to his body using his elbow and forearm, causing the big man to trip (video link). “It definitely wasn’t a basketball play,” Edey said.
- Lindy Waters earned his second start of the season for the Warriors on Friday night, but left the game late in the first half and didn’t return after hyperextending his left knee while blocking a shot (video link). Brandin Podziemski started the second half in Waters’ place, notes Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link).
- Kings guard De’Aaron Fox blew past his previous career high of 44 points by pouring in a franchise-high 60 in a loss to Minnesota on Friday. Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee has the story, including quotes from Fox, his teammates, and head coach Mike Brown. “He’s an All-Star and the sky is the limit for him,” Brown said. “He knew we needed help. He put us on his back, and he almost carried us to the finish line, but he did everything in his power to get us there.”
- The Kings will be missing a pair of stars on Saturday vs. Utah, as both Domantas Sabonis and DeMar DeRozan have been ruled out due to lower back tightness (Twitter link via Anderson). It’s DeRozan’s second consecutive missed game.
So are they giving JJ a flagrant for pushing Green to the ground on the play? Replay showed that Green was pushed on the side which caused him to fall. What about the flagrant they missed on Curry’s 3 when the Grizzly player landed into Curry’s space and knocked him down? Kerr should complain about that and ask for the same ruling.
It is simply hilarious that in a game that may have been the worst I have seen outside FIBA by the refs. A game so bad that Kerr went and individually cussed out each ref after the game. The one thing they own up to is missing a foul that starts with Edey running into a seated Green, like whys your leg on his back and side for him to pin bro, when they should have publicly owned how trash they were. Like Kerr passes on challenging another call on the one after because he wants to save the challenge but it was such a blatant defensive charge. The like 3 times the Warriors got elbowed in the face on euros that didnt get called. Those refs should all be fired I dont care how good they sound when announcing reviews!
Oh and I love how the Ws always get a F ing road whistle at home for this year and last……….
Funny, all the so-called Warrior fans were upset saying that Moody has to start over Podz, who is somehow stealing minutes from Moses, in place of Melton. So what does Kerr do, he starts Waters. You guys forgot that Kerr likes his depth. His lineups are going to be based on what players work the best together and game situations. Obviously, it is not based on some weird-a$$ whim that Davey J dreamed up. I don’t understand where he comes up with some his stuff.
Watching Fox score 60 points just to lose another nail biter is beyond frustrating. I will not stop talking about needing Keon on the floor more often than Huerter. Kevin looks bad. Keegan looks bad. Len and Lyles look rough. It’s shameful.
The plan this season was always offense > defense. And that plan would be working if anyone on this team could hit a three point shot consistently.
that explains why you hate the warriors so much you cheer for the team that never won anything
Nelson didn’t care much for the defensive side of the game. Kerr does. The results are obvious.
True. Nelson was always good on offense but never pushed defense which is why they never won a championship under him.
The Warriors went for a decade emphasizing offense over defense. That was a decade of being also-rans. Now that emphasizes defense, they win Finals.