Lakers Beat Spurs Second Night In A Row

The Spurs fell to the Lakers for the second night in a row. This time 143 to 138. LeBron James lead the Lakers with 39 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists. The Spurs were led by Keldon Johnson with 26 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists.

The loss was the second in a row to the Lakers, who beat the Spurs 105 to 94 on Friday night. The Spurs are back in action against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.

POSTGAME COMMENTS:

Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich

(On still being able to compete while losing players…)

“They got great character. I thought they were fantastic. I’m proud of them. They just keep playing. It doesn’t matter what the score is or who’s there or who’s not there. They are unbelievably coachable and are trying very hard to do what we want them to do. I was just thrilled and proud of them tonight.”

(On Isaiah Roby…)

“He really is a skilled young player. For him, it’s a matter of confidence and understanding that he can use those skills, just be aggressive all the time, and I think he’s starting to do that on offense for sure. He’s got a great shot, and I think he’s starting to figure it out. He’s a fine young player; you just got to figure out between the ears how hard you have to play at this level, and he’s responding to that.”

(on Tre Jones…)

“He’s starting to figure out what he can do. Where he can take his hits, where he can see what’s going on, on the court and how to get to the rim, how to get it to other people, being a leader out there. He’s doing all those things basically on the fly as a young player.”

Spurs Guard Tre Jones

(on losing Jakob Poeltl, Jeremy Sochan and Zach Collins and still being able to compete…)

“I think it says a lot. We were down a bunch of guys tonight, we were down a couple to start the game, down a couple last night. It’s one of those things when you don’t know when you come to the gym who’s going to be suited up. We went out there and lost two starters and then our backup big as well. But everyone stays ready. Everyone knows that at any moment their number could be called, and everyone’s been ready so far. We played extremely hard and fought till the end. Just came up short.”

(On if he has made a leap since the beginning of the season...)

“For sure. I’m just trying to get more comfortable, find my spots on offense, continue to try and be a leader for us. I feel like, tonight, we got onto a better start and that was one of the main focuses. Continue to try and be a leader, just try and be more comfortable. But my job is to always put my teammates first, be the point guard and the floor general for us.”

Spurs Guard Keldon Johnson

(On bouncing back with 26 points and 10 rebounds…)

“I knew I had to play better. I was letting myself down, my team down, my coaches down. I just knew that I had to play better. I feel like every player goes through rough patches. It’s hard to shoot the ball at whatever percentage I was shooting at the beginning of the season when I was really hot. A little setback came and I adjusted and came back at it tonight ready to go. I can’t thank my teammates and coaches enough for believing in me. As a young player like myself, that means the world to me to have my teammates and coaches believing in me… To have a whole team and staff behind you, believing in you 100 percent, I can’t even explain it. It’s like a dream come true.”

(On how the team stays positive…)

“We stay hungry. We were counted out before the season even started so what does it matter now what the media says? It doesn’t bother us now. We started out good and everyone in the media was still saying ‘they’re going to be bad’ then we hit a rough patch and the media is saying we’re bad. So it doesn’t really matter. We go out there and play and compete and have fun, trust each other, move the ball and play how we know is our way of basketball. This is what we love to do, no matter what anyone says.”

(On how the team handles dealing with so many injuries…)

“Things happen. It’s an 82-game season. Just have to keep pounding the rock. As we say around here, just keep pounding the rock. We’ll be fine. I have the utmost confidence in my teammates and coaches. We’ll make the proper adjustments with the injuries and those guys are going to get back as soon as they can so that we can be full and healthy, but we’re ready to play each and every night.”