Spurs show signs of progress, even in defeat – San Antonio Express-News

Credit Keldon Johnson, for putting up the best scoring night of his professional life while also being asked to defend LeBron James.

Kudos to Derrick White, for showing up for his first game since offseason toe surgery and almost immediately adding to his charges-taken ledger.

High-five to Dejounte Murray, who didnt play as well as he did two nights earlier against the same Los Angeles Lakers, but neither did he rest on that laurel.

There will be a time when simply making the defending NBA champions work for a 109-103 victory will not be cause for celebration in the Spurs locker room.

At this point in the teams youth-laden rebuilding effort, coach Gregg Popovich had to be pleased with the Spurs close-but-no-cigar effort to open 2021 on Friday at the AT&T Center.

We played a heck of a basketball team, Popovich said, and we were a good basketball team tonight also.

Johnson scored a career-best 26 points, made a career-best five 3-pointers and collected 10 rebounds, while DeMar DeRozan recorded 23 points with nine rebounds and seven assists.

It wasnt enough for the Spurs to overcome the LeBron James and Anthony Davis show.

Davis led Los Angeles with 34 points, while James posted 26 points, 10 assists and 11 rebounds for his 95th career triple-double as the Lakers won at the AT&T Center for the second time in three days.

Theyre good, White said, who played in his first game since the 2019-20 season ended in Orlando, Fla.. Theyre the defending champs for a reason.

The Spurs (2-3) at least made the Lakers (4-2) break a sweat Friday.

With 2:34 remaining, the Spurs took a 103-100 lead when Rudy Gay stepped through Wesley Matthews in the post, made a basket and drew a foul.

That would mark the Spurs final points of the night.

From there, the Lakers clamped down with championship-level defense to claim the game.

Davis followed Gays 3-point play with a 3-pointer of his own to knot the score again. The Lakers took the final lead they would need with 57.9 seconds left, as Kyle Kuzma cleaned up James miss at the rim.

The Spurs missed all five of their final shots, with five different players contributing the game-ending futility.

Still, it was not difficult to see the progress the Spurs made from one defeat against the Lakers to the next.

Of course we want to win, no matter who we are playing against, DeRozan said. We fought hard and played them tougher. It just shows you when we go out there and compete at a high level and play hard on both ends what can happen for us.

Truth be told, the Spurs werent terrible two nights earlier against the Lakers either.

LeBron and Co. did not fully run them out the AT&T Center in the first game of the Lakers two-game residency in San Antonio this week.

The Spurs hung around Wednesday behind Murrays career-best 29 points, but the Lakers had enough juice to keep them at bay.

The Spurs cut out some mistakes Friday, and the results were a tied score heading into the final minute.

We played better, Popovich said.

The difference in the end was the Spurs had neither James nor Davis on their roster.

Davis hit four of the Lakers 14 3-pointers, and grabbed 11 rebounds to go with his first 30-point scoring night of the season.

James meanwhile packed the box score as few other players can. Among active players, only Russell Westbrook (150) has more triple-doubles.

Lakers coach Frank Vogel likes to preach to his team about playing no-stress offense. Apparently, having two first-team All-NBA performers on the same roster is quite a stress reducer.

LeBron and Anthony make plays at the end of games, Popovich said. Thats what they do.

Before the game, Vogel said he wasnt sure what to expect of his team, given the Lakers had just beaten the Spurs by 14 points two nights earlier on the same floor.

Theres a big psychological component to tonights game, Vogel said before tipoff.

Vogel did know what to expect from the Spurs.

He expected the Spurs best shot. Thats something that comes with the territory of being the champs.

We know were going to get everybodys best shot, Vogel said. Thats the biggest challenge. Everybodys best effort is going to come our way.

Vogel was right.

Give a special game ball to Johnson, the Spurs 21-year-old forward who capped an eight-day stretch in which he guarded All-Star-caliber scorers in Pascal Siakam, Zion Williamson and James twice by pumping in a career scoring high.

He surpassed the 24 points he twice scored in games in the Orlando, Fla., bubble as a rookie last season.

Johnson has now recorded at least 20 points four times in first 25 career contests. The last Spurs player to accomplish that feat was Johnsons former assistant coach, Tim Duncan, who had six in his first 25 games of the 1997-98 campaign.

Hes a competitor, Popovich said. Hes a fine young player, and hes going to have a great career.

For now, silver linings and moral victories will have to do for the Spurs.

Having lost to the Lakers in consecutive games at the AT&T Center, the Spurs dont have to deal with LeBron and Co. for another six days.

The teams meet again Thursday in Los Angeles.

Popovich, for one, is looking forward at taking another crack at the champs.

Its not good for the record, Popovich said, but its good for our basketball team as far as long term is concerned.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

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Spurs show signs of progress, even in defeat - San Antonio Express-News