Spurs pursue season-series-clinching win against Lakers
Surging toward the All-Star break, the San Antonio Spurs will begin a back-to-back scenario before some much-deserved rest when they hit the road to face the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
The second half of the back-to-back for the Spurs, who arrive in California on a four-game winning streak, will be against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday in San Francisco. The All-Star Game will be in the Los Angeles area on Sunday.
The Lakers were on a three-game winning streak and had an eight-point lead in the third quarter on Monday before falling 119-110 to the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder. Los Angeles was without Luka Doncic (hamstring) for the second consecutive game.
The Spurs got past the Thunder 116-106 on Wednesday, then earned consecutive victories over the Dallas Mavericks, including a 138-125 home decision on Saturday when they scored a season-high 81 points in the first half.
Stephon Castle poured in a career-high 40 points in a triple-double that included 12 rebounds and 12 assists. Victor Wembanyama added 16 points and 11 rebounds.
"Having a game like this is definitely a dream come true," said Castle, who shot 15 of 19 from the floor. "It's good to have (going) into the break and definitely a good sign. It felt good to be out there and comfortable with every shot I took and to see them go in."
With a victory on Tuesday, San Antonio would match its longest winning streak of the season, five games, done twice before.
The Spurs have a 2-1 record against the Lakers going into the season finale between the teams. Castle is scoring 20.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.0 assists against Los Angeles this season.
In the most recent game between the teams, the Spurs earned a 107-91 home victory on Jan. 7 behind 27 points from Keldon Johnson, matching his season high. It was the Lakers' second-lowest scoring game of the season.
LeBron James logged 22 points and 10 assists in the Lakers' loss to the Thunder on Monday in the opener of the back-to-back. James played a team-high 36 minutes. The 41-year-old veteran, in his record 23rd NBA season, has played on consecutive days just twice this season, both times in mid-January.
Marcus Smart added 19 points for Los Angeles while Austin Reaves had 16 in his fourth game after missing more than a month with a calf strain. The Lakers made half of their 84 shots in the game but were outscored 26-19 in the fourth quarter.
"I was pretty bad in that second half," said Reaves, who shot 1 of 7 from the floor and was called for a technical foul after halftime. "I have to be better than that."
Now the Lakers will have limited preparation time following a loss to the top team in the Western Conference before facing the second-best club, the Spurs.
"When you play the best teams ... you have to have a really high level of effort and you have to have a really high level of execution," Los Angeles coach JJ Redick said. "It's gotta be both. I thought for the most part our effort was fantastic (against the Thunder), and in the key stretches of the game, our execution wasn't great."
While the Lakers are 14-8 in home games this season, the Spurs are 16-10 in road games.