Through three quarters on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Lakers led the San Antonio Spurs, who had the worst record in the Western Conference, 92-74. It looked like the game was in the bag and that they could safely take out some of their regulars.
Then the Spurs cut their deficit to 97-86, and back into the game came Anthony Davis.
Although Davis was having yet another dominant performance, the Lakers’ lead continued to diminish. They were up, 113-103, with 2:49 left. It went down to five — then to two — then to a single point.
They escaped with a 122-119 win thanks to six points from Davis in the final 75 seconds. But head coach Darvin Ham reminded everyone that his team needs to do a better job of taking care of business from start to finish.
Darvin Ham on the fourth quarter: "We can't get bored with the details… We got to add common sense to our talent." pic.twitter.com/g7zmS4atH6
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) December 14, 2023
“We can’t get bored with the details. … We got to add common sense to our talent. It’s not so much about who we’re playing, what their record is. It’s about us and the way we want to represent ourselves every time we step out on the floor. Trying to get better, trying to build winning habits and be consistent at those winning habits. We were fortunate to get that W.”
In that fourth quarter, L.A. scored a solid 30 points, but it gave up 45 to the Spurs while allowing them to shoot 66.7% overall and 7-of-11 from 3-point range. Ham’s squad also was outrebounded by five in that period.
A loss for the Lakers would have been very humiliating given the Spurs came into the contest with a 17-game losing streak.
The two teams will play again in San Antonio on Friday, and this time, if the Lakers establish a sizeable lead, they will need to keep doing what produced that sizeable lead until the final horn.
