13-02-2025
South Bay Lakers recap: Lakers lose despite Stanley Johnson's big game
After withstanding a 125-113 road loss to the San Diego Clippers on Saturday, the South Bay Lakers returned home to host the Austin Spurs at UCLA Health Training Center in El Segundo, Calif. The Spurs came in with an 11-6 record, which was the second-best mark in the Western Conference, and they wasted little time proving they were superior to South Bay.
They led 28-21 at the end of the first quarter and 57-41 at halftime, and while South Bay won the third quarter 25-18, it never really mounted a real threat. The Lakers ended up losing 109-102, dropping their regular-season record to 5-12, which puts them in second-to-last place in the West.
Quincy Olivari, the undrafted rookie guard who has shown promise this season, couldn't throw a pea in the ocean. He went 3-of-16 from the field and 1-of-7 from 3-point range and scored just seven points, although he did contribute five assists.
But Stanley Johnson, a 28-year-old who played with the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers three years ago, had an impressive showing in his first game since getting traded to South Bay. The 6-foot-6 wide-bodied forward went 10-of-22 overall and made half of his six 3-point attempts, giving him a team-high 26 points, to go along with four rebounds and three assists.
Malachi Flynn, a guard who appeared in 14 games for the New York Knicks last season, led Austin with 26 points of his own.
