SAN ANTONIO — It would not be a matter of tired legs when the San Antonio Spurs hosted the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night. Both teams were coming off back-to-back games, and both teams had to travel to San Antonio.
Ultimately, it was the Lakers that brought the fight to the Spurs with physical play and toughness.
D'Angelo Russell's shoulder hit Chris Paul (much to the veteran guard's displeasure), and throughout the night, the Lakers had more energy and physicality to snap the Spurs' four-game winning streak.
"Physicality, rebounding, taking care of the ball, I think let our guard down a little bit," said interim head coach Mitch Johnson following the team's loss.
However, forward Harrison Barnes would not pin the loss or any of the team's nine other losses, just not showing physicality to opponents. He looks at the team's pace during the game
"My personal take is, I don't know if it was as much physicality as it was pace," he said. "The team is able to be more physical with you. More walking while on the floor, more walking or cuts, more walking into our screens, right?"
It was evident the Spurs were sluggish in their loss to the Lakers.
The Lakers outscored the Spurs in the paint 58-42, edged the Spurs in fast break points at 16-13, and built a 21-point lead.
"That (lack of pace) is going to allow teams to slow us down," he said. "We're just not having the pace and the force that we usually play with."
In the second half, the Lakers held the lead for 24 minutes, making the Spurs' job of climbing out of the hole more challenging.
"I think that was the biggest thing that was apparent with us tonight. It is just that simple," Barnes added.
Credit San Antonio. The team did rally midway through the third period, but the Lakers went on a 10-0 run to keep the Spurs at bay.
The team will not make excuses for lack of physicality or pace. It is still a 48-minute game; they understand they must set the tone early.
"There's really no excuse for it," Julian Champagnie said. "We all have to come out and say we want to win a game. We have to go ahead and 'hit people' with physicality."