LOS ANGELES — All but one of the questions that Lakers personnel, including Coach JJ Redick and starting center Deandre Ayton, were asked ahead of Wednesday night’s game revolved around San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama.
And understandably so, with the 7-foot-4 (likely taller) French big man, as Redick put it, being one of the league’s unique players in the sense that he bends opponents’ principles – offensively and defensively.
But the Lakers had an admirable performance when it came to containing Wembanyama, got another high-scoring near-triple-double from Luka Doncic (35 points), then survived a late gaffe to rally past the Spurs, 118-116, in a foul-plagued game at Crypto.com Arena.
“Our group is so connected right now, we were able to get back together and there was no quitting,” Redick said. “There was no splintering. It’s a connected group.”
Doncic, who was back in the lineup after sitting out of Monday’s win in Portland, added 13 assists, nine rebounds, five steals and a pair of blocked shots to his scoring total.
Despite his subpar shooting efficiency (9 for 27 from the field), he made the plays they needed to secure their fifth straight win, putting them at 7-2 overall ahead of their five-game road trip.
“For him and for the group, the word of the day is like resiliency,” Redick said. “He showed that in the second half. Playing through some foul trouble, playing through what quite honestly was a frustrating, abnormal offensive night for him. And he stayed with it.
“Without Austin [Reaves], without LeBron [James], his teammates are looking to him to kind of keep that resolve and keep that positive disposition, and he was able to do that throughout the game. That’s an area of growth and I thought he was great at that.”
The Lakers finished the game on a 21-10 run, but the Spurs got one last chance when Marcus Smart committed an inbound violation after Kelly Olynyk’s putback layup with 1.2 seconds left.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Smart said. “When I released the ball, they said I stepped over it. I’m like, ‘we see the play all the time when a guy gets the ball out quick and his leg is like this [raises leg] and he is still inbounds and he throws the ball in and there is no call.
“But as a 12-year vet, I can’t make that mistake. Can’t even put the call and the ball in [their] hands to have that call called against us. I take full ownership of it. My teammates understand. They are going to joke with me. They are going to let me hear about it. But it will never happen again.”
Justin Champagnie then drew a foul from Jake LaRavia before time expired while trying to tip in the Spurs’ inbound pass, but Champagnie missed his first free throw, and none of the Spurs could tip in the second miss at the buzzer.
“We stayed together,” Ayton said. “And that’s the main thing, being in tough games and games not going your way, especially when you’re at home.”
The Lakers trailed for much of the second half, but Doncic made a step-back 3-pointer to give them a 113-112 lead with 2:31 left as part of a fourth quarter that saw the Lakers outscore the Spurs 30-20.
The 26-year-old Slovenian star wasn’t credited with an assist on the play, but he passed the ball to Ayton (22 points, 10 rebounds) before the center drew a shooting foul, making both free throws, to increase the Lakers’ lead to 115-112 with 1:27 remaining.
The Lakers then survived the late lapse by Smart (17 points, five assists, five rebounds) in a wild finish.
Rui Hachimura scored 15 points, including a 3-pointer that cut the Lakers’ deficit to 106-104 after they trailed by eight entering the fourth.
“It’s remarkable, he can go eight minutes of a game [and] not touch a basketball, literally not touch a ball,” Redick said. “And then just bang a wide-open 3. And he made that 3, which was huge.”
Hachimura also drew the charge against Wembanyama that fouled the big man out with 1:39 left, and the Lakers leading 113-112.
“The charge on Wemby, I looked it up, his eighth charge of his entire career,” Redick said. “That, at least in my opinion, was the biggest one yet. Two big plays from Rui.”
Wembanyama finished with 19 points on 4-of-11 shooting to go with eight rebounds, three assists and one blocked shot before fouling out. Stephon Castle and Jeremy Sochan added 16 points apiece.
Doncic made a handful of stellar plays as the Lakers rallied in the tightly officiated game between two undermanned teams. Harrison Barnes and Sochan also fouled out in the fourth quarter in a game that featured 66 fouls, 84 free-throw attempts and took nearly 3 hours to complete (2:54).
“It was a hard game, I think, for both teams to get into a rhythm,” Redick said. “It’s not a critique of the officials. I actually thought they were consistent, which is all you can really ask for. Both teams have gotten used to playing a certain way in terms of physicality. And the game was just officiated differently. And that’s not to say it was officiated poorly or was officiated great. It was just officiated differently.”
The Lakers trailed 106-97 with just over seven minutes to play, but they held the Spurs without a field goal for nearly 4½ minutes as they cut into the margin.
Reaves missed his second straight game with a hamstring injury.
The Lakers will kick off their road trip on Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks.