Spurs 132 vs 119 Lakers summary, stats, score and highlights | NBA Cup Quarterfinals

The Lakers made a comeback bid in the fourth quarter but the Spurs would keep them at arms reach all night. The Spurs are heading to the NBA Cup Semifinals where they will play the 1 loss Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night. 

Castle had a monster night, putting up 30 points and he grabbed 10 rebounds. The Lakers had no answer for the speedy guards of San Antonio and Castle ate them up all night. 

Dylan Harper is another one of those young guards starting to make a difference in San Antonio. The rookie had 13 points off the bench. 

De'Aaron Fox has been the leading scorer with out Wemby in the line up, and he had 20 points against the Lakers. 

Stephon Castle is quickly becoming a super star in this league. It's not just Wemby in San Antonio, their point guard is going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Keldon Johnson set the tone for the Spurs, scoring 13 points in 5 minutes to give SA the lead in the first quarter and they would hang on to it for the rest of the night. 

The San Antonio Spurs are heading to the NBA Cup Semifinals after beating the Los Angeles Lakers at the Crypto.com Arena. 

Victor Wembanyama was out for a 12th straight game, but that didn't matter for the Spurs who got some excellent guard play by their youngsters. 

IT'S ALL OVER FROM LA!!!

The Spurs are heading to Vegas for the NBA Cup Semifinals. 

Knecht drills the three ball and that's going to do it from LA. 

Champagnie to the cup and he lays it up and in. 

Castle sinks the step back three ball and that might have just closed the door on the Lakers. 

Under 2:00 to go in the 4th quarter from LA. 

Kornet to the line and he hits both FTs after the foul on Doncic. 

Hachimura drives baseline and lays it up and in. 

Castle kicks it out and Fox drills the three ball!

Reaves goes to the bucket, gets the foul and the bucket! FT is good after the foul on Barnes.

Smart drills another three ball, that's his 8th of the night!

It is called just a foul and James hits both FTs. 

LeBron to the line after the foul on Champagnie and the refs are going to review that play to see if there was a flagrant. 

Harper drills the deep ball, that's 7 threes for Smart!

Harper puts his head down and he lays it up and in at the rim. 

Luka drives to the iron and he gets the lay up to drop. 

Castle to the cup and he lays it up and in. 

Luka to the line and he hits both FTs after the foul on Champagnie. 

Smart drops the three ball from the wing and the Spurs need a timeout with 7:44 to go. 

Fox to the cup and he goes off the glass. 

Reaves lays it up from down low with Kornet on his back. 

Castle with the lay up off the rebound from the Kornet lay up. 

LeBron to the line after the foul on Fox and he hits one of two FTs. 

Doncic jacks the three and he drills it off the Reaves dish. 

Kornet to the lie after the foul on Smart and he hits one of two FTs.

Castle drops the three ball from the top of the key!

Vassell finds Kornet streaking to the bucket and he lays it up and in. 

Timeout Lakers with 10:45 to go. 

Champagnie with the offensive board and put back off of Vassel's miss. 

Castle going strong to the cup and he lays it up and in. 

Reaves drops a three ball to start the 4th quarter!

WE ARE AT THE END OF THE THIRD QUARTER!!!

Fox answers back with a three ball off the step back!

Smart with another triple try, that's three for him this quarter!

Johnson to the line off the foul on Hayes and he hits both FTs. 

Doncic with the mid range jumper from outside of the lane. 

Champagnie with the bucket and the foul on Smart and he hits the FT. 

Smart with a three ball from the top of the key off another dish from Luka!

Olynyk to the line after the foul on Reaves and he hits both FTs. 

Smart sinks the three ball off the kick off from Luka. 

Johnson to the line after the foul on Smart and he hits both FTs. 

Doncic to the line and he misses both FTs. 

 Harper wiggles his way to the bucket and he lays it up and in and gets the foul! Kornet goes to the line after a foul on Ayton and he hits the FT. 

Doncic into the lane and he floats it up and in from the righ side. 

Reaves drills a triple try and that's his first of the night!

Timeout Spurs with 4:30 to go in the third quarter. 

LeBron to the line after the foul on Johnson and he hits bot FTs. 

Champagnie on the floater over LeBron in the paint. 

Doncic to the line after the foul on Harper and he hits both FT. 

Johnson to the line after the Doncic foul on the three but he misses all three FTs. 

Castle to the line after the foul on Reaves and he hits both FTs.

James running the break and lays it up off the glass. 

Aytno to the line after the foul on Kornet and he hits one of two FTs .

Fox off the dribble and he hits the elbow jumper. 

Barnes sticks another three ball in the corner!

Hachimura drills a three ball from the wing off the swing pass from LeBron. 

Castle sinks a pull up from inside the paint and the Lakers need a timeout with 10:14 to go in the 3rd quarter. 

Castle cuts to the bucket and he lays it up and in. 

Ayton into the paint and he floats it up and in. 

Vassell joins the three point party with a deep ball from the wing!

Castle opens the half with a three ball from the top of the key!

WE ARE BACK IN LA FOR THE SECOND HALF OF ACTION!!!

The 40 year old LeBron James putting the entire Spurs defense on a poster. He's got 12 points and 8 rebounds. 

The Spurs have been a bit more balanced with Barnes and Johnson with 15, while Harper has 9 and Fox has 10. 

Luka's got 24 in the first half, but for a long time he was the only one creating offense for the Lakers. 

Keldon Johnson came off the bench and provided a spark for the Spurs scoring 13 points in 5 minutes and giving SA a lead that they are still hanging on to. 

What else is new? Luka got off to a hot start with 11 first quarter points. 

WE ARE HEADING TO THE HALFTIME BREAK FROM LA!!!

Barnes with the jam off the dish from Fox on the break. 

Fox with a floater off a big block from Kornet on the other end. 

LEBRON JAMES WITH A POSTER ON THE ENTIRE SPURS DEFENSE!!!

Luka to the line and he hits both FTs after the foul on Champagnie. 

Kornet to the line after the foul on Doncic and he hits both FTs. 

Luka to the cup and he lays it up and in. 

Timeout Spurs with 2:29 to go in the first half. 

Luka lobs it up for Hayes on the alley oop slam. 

Olynyk sends Luka to the line and he hits one of two FTs. 

Reaves hangs it high off the glass and hits the lay up. 

Harper takes Reaves to the bucket and he lays it up and in. 

Smart in the corner and he answers back with a three from the kick from Reaves. 

Barnes drills the three ball again, that's number three for him!

Luka to the cup and he hits the lay up off the dish from Hachimura. 

Barnes to the line after the foul on Doncic and he hits both FTs. 

Doncic drills a three ball off the step back and he might be starting to heat up. 

Timeout Spurs with 5:31 to go. 

Barnes in the corner off the feed from Vassell and he drills it!

Doncic into the paint and he gets the roll and the foul! FT is good after the foul on Champagnie. 

Vassell pulls up from the FT line and hits it. 

LeBron grabs the rebound on one end and goes coast to coast for the lay up. 

Castle to the line after the foul on Ayton and he hits one of two FTs. 

The call stands, Redick got T'd up and Vasell hits the Tech FT and then hits both FTs after the foul. 

Hachimura fouls Vassell and the Lakers are going to challenge it. 

LeBron missed the lay up but Ayton was there for the tap in 

Castle to the line and he hits one of two after the foul on Ayton. 

LeBron with an elbow jumper out of the timeout 

Champagnie walks into a three ball and drills it from the top of the key!

Timeout LA with under 10:00 to go in the first half. 

Vincent sends Kornet to the line and he hits both FTs. 

Champagnie drills the three ball on the wing to start the quarter. 

WE ARE AT THE END OF THE FIRST HALF AND SAN ANTONIO ARE UP BY 9. 

Johnson leads San Antonio with 13 points, Fox has 8 and Castle has 7. 

Luka has 11 for LA, while LeBron and Ayton have 6. 

Johnson was left all alone at the top of the key and he drills it to end the first quarter! That's 13 for Johnson to end the first quarter. 

Smart off the dribble and he lays it up and in after jetting past his defender. 

Fox drills a three ball from the wing and the Spurs are up by 8!

Johnson on the catch and shoot from the wing and he's got 10 points in four minutes!

Lebron down low off the feed from Smart and he lays it up and in. 

Doncic gets T'd up, and Champagnie hits the FT. 

Harper to the cup and he lays it up and in. 

Johnson with the long rebound and he jacks it up for the thee ball from the wing. 

Reaves bullies his way to the bucket and he lays it up and in off the glass. 

Johnsno following the miss of Harper and he tips it up and in. 

Johnson to the cup out of the timeout and he takes it for a lay up over Hayes.

Doncic on the step back and he drills the three ball over Olynyk!

Timeout Spurs with 3:54 to go in the 4th quarter.

Harper to the linen and he hits one of two FTs but gets his own rebound and puts it up and in. 

Luka steps into a three ball from the wing off the feed from Reaves. 

Luka to the line but he misses both FTs after the foul on Harper.

Harper picks off the Doncic pass and takes it coast to coast for a lay up.

Barnes answerrs back with a corner three off the dish from Castle!

Hachimura on the wing and he drills the three ball!

Castle drops the FT after the break. 

Castle down low on the break again and he lays it up and gets the foul on Luka. He'll be at the line after a pause in the action with under 7:00 to go in the first quarter. 

Ayton with another floater from inside the FT line and he's got 6 already. 

Castle going one on one with Doncic in transition and he lays it up and in. 

LeBron gets out in transition and he lays it up and in on the break. 

Doncic floats it up and he getes it to go and the foul on Castle! FT is good. 

Reaves left it off for Ayton who gets another floater to go. 

Fox pulls up from behind the FT line and he's got back to back buckets. 

Doncic wiggle into the paint and he gets the runner to go. 

Fox sinks a three ball from the wing to get his night going. 

Ayton in the paint and he floats it in. 

Castle tot he line after the foul on James and he hits both FTs. 

LeBron gets into the paint and hits the fader from inside the FT line. 

WE ARE UNDERWAY FROM LOS ANGELES!!!

What's at stake

The winner of tonight’s game and the winners of all of the other quarterfinal games will have already made some loot on their run to the Semifinals. Each player on the semifinalist teams gets $106,187, so six digit will be on the line tonight. If you make the title game each player makes $212,373, and should you be the last team standings, the champs get $530,933 a piece. 

Who is left?

The NBA Cup is in it's third year since being introduced to the NBA. The 30 teams are broken up into groups and after group play there is a knockout format to the tournament. We are at the quarterfinal stage of the tournament, and there are already two teams on to the semifinals. The Orlando Magic and the New York Knicks have advanced after winning their quarterfinal games last night, and the Thunder beat the Suns earlier tonight. That leaves one spot left, and the winner of tonight’s game will be off to the semifinal’s on Saturday night. 

Waiting on Wemby

There were rumors that maybe just maybe the Spurs would get Wemby back for their game in LA tonight. He got injured on November 14th in a game against the Golden State Warriors, and the calf strain has kept him out since then. Wemby has reportedly returned to practice this week which means his return is imminent. Wemby is averaging 26.2 points, 12.9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3.6 blocks this seasons. If he is going to be eligible for awards at the end of the season he needs to play at least 65 games which means he can only miss five more games all season after tonight. 

Western Conference Standings

Taking a look at the standings in the Western Conference we see the Thunder clear above the rest of the pack with a record of 23-1. They are on historic pace, but the Lakers aren’t too far behind them with a record of 17-6 which puts them in 2nd place in the West. The Nuggets have the same record, but are in third, and the Rockets are in 4th at 15-6. San Antonio sit in 5th at 16-7, technically just a game back of the Lakers. 

Spurs star watch

De'Aaron Fox was brought to San Antonio to pair up with Victor Wembanyama and give him a bit of relief on the offensive side of the ball. Since Wemby has gone down, he’s taken over as the leading scorer for the Spurs, topping the score sheet in seven of the 11 games that the Spurs have been without their superstar. He’s averaging 24.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 6.5 assists this season and has led San Antonio to 8 wins in those 11 game without Wemby. 

Star watch: Lakers

We all knew that the Lakers got one of the best players in the league when the traded for Luka Doncic last year. He's always been in the MVP conversation, but this year is the most serious case he’s had for being the leagues best player. He’s the top scorer in the league wih 35 points a game, he’s averaging 9.1 assists a game which is third and he’s grabbing 9.2 rebounds a game. The torch has officially been passed from LeBron to Luka not just in LA, but maybe the league torch has been passed from James to Doncic. 

Spurs last game

San Antonio went into the house of the worst team in the league and almost got shocked by the New Orleans Pelicans. They had a 20 point lead at halftime with Harrison Barnes leading the way. He finished the game with 24 points, but it was Derrick Queen who posted a triple double and led the come back charge for the Pelicans. San Antonio needed their rookie Dylan Harper to hit a floater with 9 seconds left and closed out the Pelicans in New Orleans. 

Lakers last game 

LA finished of their three game road trip in Philly against a Sixers team that took them all 12 rounds. It was a back and forth game for all four quarters as Luka Doncic and Tyrese Maxey went back and forth. Doncic had a 31 point triple double while Maxey posted 28 points, but it was LeBron James who won the game for the Lakers late in the 4th quarter. LeBron posted 29 points, and hit the go-ahead three pointer with just over a minute left and then stretched the lead to five on the Lakers next possession. 

We are live from LA 

Hello everyone and welcome to the Los Angeles where the Lakers are back home after a quick East Coast road trip and they return to get back to the NBA Cup semifinals after winning the inaugural tournament back in 2023. The San Antonio Spurs are looking for their first NBA Cup, but will have to do it without Victory Wembanyama who is out for a 12th straight game. The Spurs still have a talented team that will be looking to surprise the Lakers and knock them out of the Cup in front of their home fans. 

Spurs vs. Lakers  

We have a midseason quarterfinal match up in the NBA Cup as Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers host a San Antonio Spurs team without Victor Wembanyama. AS English will be with you all night providing live coverage, stats, highlights and analysis of tonight's game from the Crypto.com Arena.