On Sunday afternoon, the Lakers were able to avoid the same kind of disaster that befell them the last time they played San Antonio.
But it still didn’t go well, especially in the first half.
Here are five takeaways from the Lakers’ 119-98 loss to the Spurs.
1. This game tested the limits of Lakers Coach Luke Walton’s positivity. He thought the locker room was dead pre-game, which turned out to be a harbinger of what was to come in the first half.
2. To try to solve that energy issue, Walton turned to Thomas Robinson, who hasn’t played since Jan. 22. Robinson entered the game with 7:05 left in the second quarter. He scored six points, grabbed three rebounds and had a steal between then and halftime. One score came on a putback dunk on which Robinson reached a couple feet behind him to grab the ball and slam it through the hoop.
3. Tyler Ennis was available for the first time since Thursday’s trade deadline, and played eight minutes and five seconds. He scored five points, had two assists, one offensive rebound and a steal. “I thought I did my job of pushing the ball,” Ennis said. “Trying to get used to guys still a little bit, just making the open shot when it’s there. Making plays. I feel like that’ll help us a lot.”
4. Fun fact about Ennis: Growing up in Toronto, he was a big fan of then-Raptors guard Jose Calderon. Ennis was 11 when Calderon’s Raptors career began in 2005.
5. The Lakers had only 16 assists to the Spurs’ 37. The Lakers had only seven assists in the second half. They also gave up 27 points off their 19 turnovers.
tania.ganguli@latimes.com
Twitter: @taniaganguli
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