LOS ANGELES ( Associated Press) – Keita Bates-Diop scored a record 30 points as the San Antonio Spurs beat the falling Los Angeles Lakers 138-110 Thursday night at the final event at the Staples Center under the 22-year-old arena … original name.
LeBron James has 36 points and nine rebounds, while Russell Westbrook has 30 points for Los Angeles, which lost four in a row for the first time this season amid the chaos in the COVID-19 lineup. The Lakers are playing without coach Frank Vogel and five players on NBA health and safety protocols, and they have been 0-4 since Anthony Davis injured his left knee in Minnesota last week.
Derrick White had 23 points and Lonnie Walker added 21 points in his third win in four games for Spurs, who scored 18 three-pointers, completing a two-legged sweep of two NBA tenants in the arena in downtown Los Angeles.
Building changes name to Crypto.com Arena at Christmas in what is considered the richest naming convention in sports history. The cryptocurrency platform and exchange are paying over $ 700 million over 20 years to put their name on a building that has hosted countless major sports and entertainment events since opening in 1999 and has been home to six Lakers championship teams.
On Thursday, San Antonio took the double-digit lead and comfortably won straight games for the first time since December 4, despite top scorer Dejunte Murray’s inadequate performance, who went 3-out of 16.
Bates-Diop, the fourth straight NBA journeyman with an average of 3.8 points per game this season, has 11 points in the third quarter. He finished with five three-pointers.
Dwight Howard retired to play 22 minutes as LA’s starting center, but the Lakers were still without Avery Bradley, Kent Basemore, Malik Monk, Austin Reeves and Trevor Ariza, who entered the protocols earlier in the day. …
Los Angeles (16-17) is back below 0.500 for the first time since November 26.
San Antonio scored nine three-pointers and were 15 points ahead in the first half, although James had 23 points and was clearly upset at his teammates’ shortcomings at times.
TIP-INS
Spurs: They also played in the Lakers’ final at The Forum on May 23, 1999. Tim Duncan scored 33 points when San Antonio completed a four-game sweep for Los Angeles in the second round of the postseason. Gregg Popovich was a third year coach.
Lakers: Interim head coach David Fizdale ran the bench for the second straight game. He said that Vogel sends him the observation list during his break from watching TV. Feasedale and assistant coach Phil Handy have received technical fouls for disputes with officials. … Davis watched from the bench in a blue tracksuit, missing his third game. The revaluation of the often injured star will not take place until the end of next month.
REMOVING ST Associated PressLES
Signs, billboards and countless small details have been altered in the arena to erase the name Staples Center, which has an illogical, yet undeniable, sentimental meaning for Los Angeles sports fans who have equated the stationery retailer’s name with the center. basketball universe for over two decades.
The Lakers recognized this affection and celebrated the name change with a pre-game video that highlighted the team’s greatest moments in their arena. The fans received a commemorative ticket and a gold jersey that mimics the first jersey donated by the team in the arena during the 2000 playoffs.
At half-time, former Lakers stars Robert Horrie, Metta Sandyford-Artest, Luke Walton, Byron Scott and Gary Payton stood around the Staples court logo with six franchise championship trophies earned in the building.
NEXT
Spurs: Detroit will play on Sunday.
Lakers: host Brooklyn on Saturday.
___
More Associated Press NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/ Associated Press_Sports
…
