Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images The Spurs held the rope in a hard-fought contest until they couldn’t anymore The San Antonio Spurs came into tonight’s Thanksgiving Eve match-up with the Lakers riding a season best 4-game win streak, their longest win streak since March 2022. They got down early on in this one though, and even though they were able to keep it within striking distance most of the night, they finally succumbed in the 4th thanks to a balanced Lakers effort. Los Angeles put the game away late in the 4th quarter and in doing so sent the Spurs out on the road with a loss that reset their aformentioned streak counter to 0. They Spurs will now have a couple of days off to digest tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dinner before they hit the road and are back in action Sunday night against the Sacramento Kings. Observations Dalton Knecht got picked on more than a few times on the defensive end, but the rookie sniper more than made up for it with his shooting. Knecht led a balanced Los Angeles scoring attack with 20 points, getting the Lakers off to a great start and setting the tone for their offense most of the night. After playing some impressive games during this win streak, Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle struggled with their offense in this one. They combined for just 30 points tonight, with Wemby’s 20 being his lowest since he scored 12 in a win over the Trailblazers all the way back at the start of November. They had a handful of highlights, with Wemby finishing some crazy shots inside and Castle finding and setting teammates up, but compared to what has been as of late, it was a down evening. Watching this one, it really felt like Lebron James was nonexistent most of the night on offense. Yet someone going to check out the box score afterwards would see that he somehow finished with a triple double, his 6th of the season and his 2nd consecutive against the Spurs. He only scored 16 points, but 8 of those points came in the 4th quarter and helped the Lakers put this one away. Devin Vassell made a bit of Spurs history tonight in a 14 point performance off the bench in his return from a knee injury: The first player in Spurs history to hit 450+ three-pointers in his first 250 career games: Devin Vassell.— Jordan Howenstine (@AirlessJordan) November 28, 2024 The Lakers had 7 players finish the game in double figures tonight compared to 5 for the Spurs. Off the bench, Los Angeles got big contributions from D’Angelo Russell and Max Christie, accounting for 29 points. Christie in particular was huge in the 3rd quarter, going 4/4 for 10 of his 12 points. Both quelled more than one run Spurs run that threatened to get them even with the Lakers. Julian Champagnie had a fine game scoring the ball, having more than his fair share of big shots to stall the momentum that the Lakers were trying to build throughout the night. His 18 points are the most he’s scored in a game since the 21 he had in a loss to the Clippers all the way back on November 4th. For the Laker fan’s perspective, please visit Silver Screen and Roll.