National Basketball Association
San Antonio 117, L.A. Lakers 110
When: 8:30 PM ET, Monday, March 7, 2022
Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
Officials: #61 Courtney Kirkland, #31 Scott Wall, #52 Scott Twardoski
Attendance: 18354

Dejounte Murray collected 26 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists as the San Antonio Spurs held off the short-handed, visiting Los Angeles Lakers 117-110 on Monday to help their chances for a postseason berth.

With the result, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich tied Don Nelson for the most regular-season wins by a coach in league history with 1,335.

San Antonio was up by three points heading to the fourth quarter and never allowed the Lakers to get the lead, surviving a ragged final four minutes and a woeful 16-of-30 showing from the free-throw line to snap a four-game losing streak.

The Lakers, who have lost five of their past six games, were without LeBron James, who was held out with a sore left knee after scoring 56 points in a win over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.

Jakob Poeltl and Josh Richardson scored 18 points each for San Antonio, with Keldon Johnson adding 13 and Doug McDermott hitting for 11 as all five Spurs starters finished in double figures. San Antonio was missing starter Devin Vassell and key reserve Lonnie Walker IV, both because of non-COVID illnesses.

Talen Horton-Tucker led Los Angeles with 18 points while Malik Monk, Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony added 17 each and Austin Reeves scored 13 points. Westbrook also grabbed 10 rebounds.

The Spurs led for all but 14 seconds of the first quarter and were up 31-22 after Josh Primo's 3-pointer with 4.7 seconds left in the period. San Antonio extended its advantage to as many as 14 points before settling for a 62-56 lead at the break. Murray finished with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting over the first two quarters.

All 10 players who saw the court for the Spurs in the first half scored at least three points as San Antonio outshot the Lakers 60 percent to 50 percent and outrebounded Los Angeles 22-20 in the half.

Monk paced the Lakers with 11 points before the break.

Los Angeles rallied to take a 76-75 lead on a three-point play by Westbrook with 7:14 to play in the third period. The Spurs quickly went back in front and extended their advantage back to as many as eight points before taking a 95-92 lead to the final quarter.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
L.A. Lakers   San Antonio
Talen Horton-Tucker 18 Scoring Dejounte Murray 26
Russell Westbrook 6 Assists Dejounte Murray 8
Russell Westbrook 10 Rebounds Dejounte Murray 10
Russell Westbrook 7 Free Throws Made Jakob Poeltl 6
Malik Monk 3 Steals Tre Jones 3
Carmelo Anthony 2 Blocks Tre Jones 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
L.A. Lakers 110 47.3 8-26 16-23 19 43 3 7 15
San Antonio 117 54.8 9-26 16-30 28 47 7 6 18
Upcoming Games
  • San Antonio will play their next game at home against Toronto. The Spurs have a W/L % of .320 after a win and .425 after a loss.
  • L.A. Lakers will play their next game on the road against Houston. The Lakers have a W/L % of .357 after a win and .500 after a loss.