LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers dunks past a host of San Antonio Spurs defenders in the second half at AT&T Center on November 25, 2022 in San Antonio, Texas. (Getty Images)Photo: Getty Images
The San Antonio Spurs fell to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. LA topped the Spurs 105 to 94. Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 25 points. LeBron James added 21 and Lonnie Walker IV put in 18 points. The Spurs were led by Tre Jones with 19 points, 2 rebounds and 5 assists. Devin Vassell made 18 points. Keldon Johnson had 15, Jeremy Sochan 13 and Jakob Poeltl 10 to give the Spurs five players in double-figures. The Spurs return to action on Saturday night for another game against the Lakers.
Postgame Comments:
Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich
(Opening statement…)
“Well, once again, we had to come from behind, play from behind. We spot them 20 points in the first half. The second half, we did everything better. We didn’t make shots, but as far as defense and rebounding, we were much better, much more aggressive in the second half. So, figuring out ways to start better and when we shoot, it’ll either go in or it won’t.”
(On Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan facing Lebron…)
“Playing against Lebron [James] and Anthony [Davis] will make everybody’s intensity and blood pressure go up a little bit. Two great players, but I thought we did better as the game went along. It’s just no fun to lose. But as long as they come and try to do their job every night, they’re going to get better. And when you do that, wins follow. So, we just stick with it.”
(On Keldon Johnson lately…)
“He’s in a little bit of a shooting slump, obviously. I think he’s got to not think about it. When he’s open, keep firing it because he’s been doing a good job of that all year. If he doesn’t make those shots and we don’t have a multitude of scorers, he and Devin, we depend on them to score. If they don’t score, we got a problem.”
Spurs Guard Tre Jones
(On the second game against LA …)
“I feel like after the rough start we had tonight; like I said, the rough road trip we had, being able to put together the last three quarters that we did is just the positive takeaway we’ll have from tonight. We were forcing turnovers, we were being really active, we didn’t back down tonight when we went down 20, we continued to fight, continued to claw back in the game, and gave ourselves a shot there, but I think we just ran out of gas. We didn’t get out to a hot start, so that’s going to be something we definitely need to work on and try to do moving forward.”
(On the importance of getting up and down the court…)
“Playing fast pace like we were those last three quarters is going to be huge for us. I felt like we did that for three quarters tonight. That first quarter we just could not get it going. If we can get back to starting out the games better, [and] we’re not digging ourselves out of that hole, it makes it a lot easier on ourselves when we’re trying to fight for that win down the stretch and we might not run out of gas.”
Spurs Forward Jeremy Sochan
(On mindset facing Lebron James and the game in general…)
“I think just like every other game. Of course, he’s a great player, one of the best, but I think I just look at everyone the same and try to play my game.”
(On him and Tre Jones’ coming-up-court chemistry…)
I think it just happened over time. As we get used to each other, with the flow and everything, we just kind of have chemistry.”
(On learning anything from Lebron…)
“I think just how level-headed he is. He doesn't get too excited and is never too low when he makes a mistake. I learned that he’s physical on defense and smart. He doesn’t jump or anything, so I definitely learned a lot.”