In the Lakers 91-85 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, the team had began to build some momentum which amounted to a 15-point lead. However, the team lost a bit of steam when reserve Xavier Henry went down with a head injury that required nine stitches to his forehead. After Henry knocked down two free throws, the Spurs went on a quick 7-0 run, and kept the momentum for the remainder of the game by slowly chipping away at the Lakers lead, then building one of their own. Head coach Mike D’Antoni felt that moment changed the game for the Lakers.
“When X (Xavier) got hurt for whatever reason the air got out of us.” – D’Antoni — Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) November 2, 2013
Seeing one of your guys go down hard and get up with a nasty laceration on his forehead could take the wind out of your sails, but the Lakers are going to have to learn how to maintain their collective energy for a full 48 minutes. Despite the Lakers struggling to regain their energy, they still had an opportunity to win down the stretch, but were out played and out executed down the stretch to the tune of 13-5 in the last 3:55 of the game and lost by six. The Lakers move on to a game against the Hawks on Sunday. They’ll have to put the loss behind them, learn from losing a winable game and improve on what they’ve been able to build.
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