San Antone: Seeking Nine Rings

The King led the Lakers with 43 huge points on 16-32 shooting. A close game throughout came down to a mini run by the Spurs, ultimately falling short as Patty Mills missed at the buzzer from long range, down two and trying to steal a win. Under pressure was San Antonio, as the Lakers had pulled away in the fourth quarter on a 12-3 run, so it's respectable how the Spurs fought back in the final minutes. In the loss, Davis Bertans hit some nice shots and fans got to see the first meeting between Kawhi Leonard (as a Laker) and Brandon Ingram (as a Spur). Ingram had 32 points, shooting well from the field, with Leonard notching 18 behind James. The Spurs fall to 2-1 on the season, next hosting the Pacers back in Texas after tonight's holiday in Hollywood. Some chagrin will come from the Spurs missing two free throws in this 2-PT defeat, but more so the 18 turnovers as a unit, despite 10 missed free throws by the Lakers.

McCollum had a chance to win the game. The Spurs caught a break tonight as CJ McCollum's would-be game-winning shot went awry, despite losing the scoring battle in the 3rd Quarter. San Antone edged out Portland a close advantage on the glass 42-39, which drew the intentional foul by the Blazers to seal the victory. Brandon Ingram had a nice 21 points, 1 steal and a block. Avery Bradley scored 18 with 4 steals. Kyle O'Quinn surprised with 15 points and 7 rebounds with 4 blocks. Patty Mills had 14 and Dejounte Murray had 12. In defeat, CJ McCollum (14-30 FG%) finally cooled off with 37 points on seven 3PT strikes. Damian Lillard had a modest 16; Seth Curry had 12, Evan Turner had 10 and Jusuf Nurkic grabbed 10 rebounds.