With 26 points, eight assists and five rebounds, LeBron James led his Los Anegeles Lakers to a 121-107 win over the San Antonio Spurs for the NBA on Wednesday night.
Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon became the first woman to lead a regular season game after coach Gregg Popovich was sent off for protesting to umpires late in the second quarter.
“I was trying to get the guys in the right spots. Trying to get them motivated. Obviously, it’s a learning situation for all of us, but I would have loved to have walked out there with a win with the guys.” Hammon added.
The purple and gold set came from losing on Monday to the Portland Trail Blazers (107-115). But today he gave himself a relatively comfortable victory with a match that dominated practically from start to finish by a distance that only in the final moments fell below the double digits with some danger for the Angelenos.
In addition to James, the winners of the NBA title in the Orlando bubble also had the outstanding contribution of Schroder (21 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists) and a surprising Wesley Matthews (18 points with 6 of 6 in triples).
For his part, Gasol added 5 points (including an acrobatic basket plus an additional shot in the last moment of the second quarter), he did not miss any shot to the basket, captured 5 rebounds and distributed 2 assists in the 20 minutes he played.
The Spanish pivot has fully established himself as part of a Lakers starting quintet that, if there are no injuries involved, is made up of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Dennis Schroder, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Gasol himself.
The Lakers now stand with a balance of 3 wins and 2 losses. Meanhile, for the Spurs, Dejounte Murray was the most notable player with 29 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists.
The San Antonio team is now left with 2 wins and 2 losses.