10/22: LAKERS vs. San Antonio Spurs 1st Half Open Thread

Welcome in to the first half open thread of the Lakers' home matchup vs. the San Antonio Spurs. Leave a comment below and share your thoughts on the game.


Q2

SAS 65 LAL 60

Ah, that last shot by Kuzma was way off. That would've had Staples Center explode off the roof tops heading into the half. At least, this was a much better effort from the Lakers this quarter than the last one. The Lakers are better off when they're playing at their fast pace and we saw a lot of that this quarter. It all starts on the defensive end. This team settled down defensively and started generating some turnovers on the Spurs' side as well as securing defensive rebounds here and there. JaVale McGee and Kyle Kuzma brought the hustle and aggressiveness. Kuz in particular just took this quarter over. The team is short-handed without Ingram and Rondo and he just took matters into his own hands, scoring inside and going coast-to-coast in transition. Overall, the fast pace system was on full display here as it was non-existent in the first quarter. They just now have to find a way to contain the Spurs' motion offense for the rest of the game, especially stop their midrange game. The Spurs were effective with that in the first half. As usual, they play some really great team basketball under Gregg Popovich. That's the main difference this game. The other? LeBron James hasn't gone off yet. So this deficit is definitely favorable on the Lakers' side to set up a 2nd half takeover from the King. We'll see what happens. The 2nd half will open up shortly.

Q1

SAS 40 LAL 26

The Lakers got their work cut out for them. This was not a good quarter. The Spurs came right out of the gate and it was a mid range assault for them. DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge had a field day out there from mid range. There was nothing the Lakers can do to stop them. The Lakers had some momentum going with a two-handed slam by KCP and LeBron's no look to Josh Hart. Lonzo Ball got off to a fantastic start with 10 points. But, they're still down by a lot and it's going to be a long climb.