LOS ANGELES — All but one of the questions the Lakers were asked ahead of Wednesday’s game were centered around San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama.
And understandably so, with the 7-foot-4 (likely taller) French big man, as Coach JJ 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 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.
Doncic, who was back in the lineup after sitting out of Monday’s win in Portland, finished with 35 points, 13 assists, nine rebounds, five steals and a pair of blocked shots. 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.
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.
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 nobody could tip in the second miss at the buzzer.
The Lakers trailed for much of the second half, but Doncic made a stepback 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 Deandre 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), who tried to send a long inbound pass down the court with one foot still in bounds, giving San Antonio the ball.
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.
Wembanyama finished with 19 points on 4-of-11 shooting to go with eight rebounds, three assists and one blocked shot before fouling out with 1:39 to play. 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 in a game that featured 66 fouls, 84 free-throw attempts and took nearly 3 hours to complete (2:54).
The Lakers trailed 106-97 with just over seven minutes to play, but held the Spurs without a field goal for nearly 4½ minutes.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves missed his second straight game with a hamstring injury.
The Lakers will kick off their road trip on Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks.
More to come on this story.