SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs picked up the home loss versus the Lakers, losing 139-130.
Victor Wembanyama finished with 28 points and 14 rebounds to lead the team. Julian Champagnie had 10 points and eight rebounds, Harrison Barnes finished with eight, Keldon Johnson had 12, and Chris Paul had 11 points and 11 assists.
Devin Vassell added 15 points, and Stephon Castle had 22 points and five assists.
San Antonio was without Jeremy Sochan and Tre Jones due to injury. Head coach Gregg Popovich was also out due to illness. Assistant coach Mitch Johnson assumed head coaching duties for the game.
The Spurs are 6-7 to start the season and will next visit the Mavericks on Saturday night.
Here's a sample of what the teams said after the game.
SPURS
Mitch Johnson:
"I think we were trying to get a couple guys in some actions to have a couple different looks. I thought we had some good looks. That's the first close game like that, with Devin, myself, Chris Paul, and Victor now. So we're definitely going to continue to learn and we'll have feedback from the visual."
Castle:
"Just showed the trust that we all have in each other. I feel like he (Paul) could have made the pass to anybody. If it was the other way around, I could have passed it to CP (Paul) or Dev (Vassell). It just shows the trust that we have in each other seeing who had it going at that point in the game. I'm just trying to knock it down next time."
Paul:
"The best teams in the league... the last four or five minutes of the game, it's a totally different game. You saw the notes, you want to run but moreso your defense gets a little bit tighter. I think that's where we will get to. I think we did a good job getting out in transition. We got to figure out how to get Vic (Wembanyama) to the free-throw line. At least once throughout a game."
Wembanyama:
“I'd say we had some good moments. We just went back and forth. That doesn't work against an experienced team like them (Lakers). I think it's promising. Still a good one. It's not linear but we're getting better."
LAKERS
JJ Redick