Lakers Keep It Close In Kobe Bryant’s Farewell To The San Antonio Spurs

The Los Angeles Lakers fell short in San Antonio despite a valiant effort in Kobe Bryant‘s farewell to the Spurs.

For a team that’s still well in the development stages of making a return to the championship conversation, Saturday night’s loss in San Antonio proved to be a statement game for a lot of the players in Los Angeles.

In particular, D’Angelo Russell proved to be the only good thing from the Lakers bench in a tough test against the second-best team in all of the Western Conference.

All of the starters with the exception of Roy Hibbert shined bright in this road game as well.

Julius Randle got another double-double, dropping 17 points and grabbing fifteen boards. Kobe Bryant pitched in 25 points and four assists, while Roy Hibbert offered just two points and two rebounds.

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Jordan Clarkson was the best performing player overall for Los Angeles, though, as he threw down 21 points, six rebounds and four assists.

For San Antonio, one major way they were able to out-play the Lakers late was simply their edge when it came to stamina.

The Spurs’ ability and option to rely so much on their bench players as much as their starters came in handy when it mattered most against the Lakers.

While the Lakers, meanwhile, were stuck having to put Lou Williams in for 37 minutes, Clarkson for 36, Kobe Bryant for 33, and Julius Randle for 31.

Brandon Bass and D’Angelo Russell also saw big minutes off the bench with 26 and 23, respectively.

Russell nearly out-scored the rest of the bench with his 12 points compared to their combined 13 — that kind of statistic is rather detrimental against a Spurs team that’s as deep as they are this season.

From the bench, Brandon Bass and Tarik Black had four points, Nick Young had three, and Robert Sacre had just two — then there was D’Angelo Russell with 12.

Patty Mills was the biggest surprise from the bench for the Spurs, scoring 13 points and getting three boars in just 22 minutes on the hardwood.

The Spurs are trying all they can do to keep pace with the Golden State, but that’ll be even harder in the second half of the season given the kind of tear the Warriors have been on lately.

To make matters worse, San Antonio’s shocking 30-point loss to Golden State is still fresh in their head — they wouldn’t forget that kind of embarrassment.

Up next for the Lakers is a trip to Indiana tomorrow to play against Paul George and Pacers.