LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James had 30 points, nine assists and seven rebounds and the Los Angeles Lakers rode Victor Wembanyama’s historic “5×5” statistical performance to their seventh win in nine games on Friday night with a 123-point win over the San Antonio Spurs. Defeated by 118. ,
Wembanyama had 27 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in his first road game against the Lakers. The French rookie sensation added five blocked shots and five steals, making him the youngest player in NBA history and the 15th player overall to achieve the rare 5×5 – at least five points, rebounds, assists in a game. Assists, blocks and steals.
“He has no roof,” James said of Vembanyama. “He can do whatever he wants to do in his career. Looks like he is enjoying the game. It’s like he does things from the inside out, just looking in from the outside. … I’ve said a long time ago how special he was, and it really is that simple.”
Wembanyama fell just shy of one assist in a 5×5 game in Sacramento on Thursday night, but accomplished the feat a night later in Los Angeles in just 30 minutes, 55 seconds of play – the shortest playing time in a 5×5 performance in league history.
Wembanyama joined Michael Jordan as the only players to have at least five steals and five blocks in consecutive games.
“I wonder if (Jordan) did it in a win, not a loss,” Wembanyama said. “For me, it is secondary. Hopefully in the future we’ll look back and see it as a good performance, but to date, I can’t be satisfied with the loss.
Wembanyama scored an impressive 16 points in the first quarter, but Anthony Davis responded to the challenge of his fellow No. 1 overall pick with impressive play over the next two quarters as the Lakers maintained their lead.
Davis tallied 28 points and 13 rebounds before sitting out the entire fourth quarter for the second game in a row. His replacement, Jackson Hayes, performed brilliantly against Wembanyama while James led the Lakers to their 12th win in 18 matches.
“(James) powered through some good stretches and some tough stretches, but overall, when we needed him to make plays, make shots, he stepped up and he did that,” Lakers coach Darwin Ham said. ” “Coming out of the All-Star break, everything is a little chaotic. “Guys are still trying to get back into the rhythm of where we were before, but I thought (James) was good.”
San Antonio finished on a 17-5 run over the final 3 1/2 minutes to close the final margin significantly.
D’Angelo Russell had 22 points and six assists on his 28th birthday, while Rui Hachimura added 17 points for the Lakers, who have been unable to move higher than ninth in the Western Conference standings despite their surge in recent weeks. Los Angeles returned from the All-Star break with a loss to Golden State on Thursday.
James came back strong after missing the Lakers’ last two games to rest his ankle pain, although he played in the All-Star Game in between.
“I can’t tell you what every day is going to be like for us,” James said. “We just work and live with the results. We approach the game the right way defensively. Offensively, we continue to share the ball. … If we defend, we get back in transition and we clean the glass when teams miss, we’ll give ourselves a chance to win every night.
Wembanyama took advantage of his first opportunity to play under the Lakers’ Wall of Championship banner and got off to a great start, scoring 13 points and three rebounds while drawing two fouls from Davis in the first six minutes of the game. He had 20 points at halftime, but after halftime he was only 2 of 6.
Malachi Branham scored 17 points and Jeremy Sochan had 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Spurs, who have lost three in a row and 10 of 11. They are 1-6 on their nine-game annual Rodeo road trip.
In these teams’ last meeting in December, San Antonio broke its franchise-record losing streak of 18 games.
next
Spurs: At Utah on Sunday.
Lakers: Sunday at Phoenix.
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