Keldon Johnson poured in 27 points as San Antonio’s balanced offense proved too much for Luka Doncic’s individual brilliance, lifting the Spurs to a 107-91 win over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday in the second night of a back-to-back for both teams.
The Spurs carried a five-point edge into halftime and stretched it to 12 with just under four minutes left in the third quarter.
Los Angeles never closed the gap to fewer than seven points the rest of the way, and San Antonio effectively put the game away when Stephon Castle drove in for a layup with 4:14 remaining, pushing the lead to 14.
Victor Wembanyama, coming off the bench for the second straight game, delivered 16 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks in 26 minutes.
Castle finished with 15 points, De’Aaron Fox added 14, and Julian Champagnie chipped in 11 as the Spurs spread the scoring load.
Doncic amassed 38 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Lakers, who played without LeBron James, who sat out for rest in the second game of a back-to-back.
Doncic also committed seven turnovers.
Jake LaRavia added 16 points, and Jaxson Hayes scored 10 for Los Angeles.
A Johnson layup with 21 seconds remaining gave the Spurs a 26-23 lead at the end of the first quarter.
San Antonio pushed the lead back to seven when Carter Bryant knocked down a 3-pointer two minutes into the second quarter.
Los Angeles responded with an 11-0 run, capped by a layup by Ayton, to take a 34-30 lead with 7:11 left before halftime.
The rest of the period belonged to San Antonio, which matched its largest lead of the half when Johnson hit a 3-pointer with 51.9 seconds remaining.
Doncic’s finger-roll layup 18 seconds later closed the scoring in the half and trimmed the Lakers’ deficit to 48-43 at the break.
Doncic carried Los Angeles in the first half, scoring 22 points while grabbing six rebounds and handing out seven assists.
He outscored the rest of his teammates by one point. Johnson led the Spurs with 14 points before halftime.
Los Angeles trimmed the Spurs’ lead to 56-54 on Jarred Vanderbilt’s layup with 8:08 left in the third quarter before San Antonio regained control, going up 71-59 when Johnson drilled a 3-pointer with 3:38 remaining in the period.
