The Lakers rallied from a 14-point deficit in the third quarter, closing the three-game California Classic with a win over the San Antonio Spurs Tuesday night at Chase Center.
Lakers forward Darius Bazley led all players in scoring with 27 points on seven-for-nine shooting, hitting the game-sealing dunk. Bazley also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
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When asked what sparked the rally for the Lakers, Bazley responded, “Our defense, just turning up the intensity, turning up our physicality. Ultimately it was just our mindset, you just want to finish through.”
The Lakers stepped up with key defensive rebounds and stops down the stretch, with Bazley being the defensive focal point. He has been the team’s top defender statistically throughout summer league games.
“There’s a lot of dogs on this team, defensively.” Bazley said. “That’s a big point of emphasis that we had throughout training camp, leading up to now, going into Vegas. So it’s on our minds going into huddles, something that we constantly talk about.”
Dalton Knecht was also pivotal in the Lakers’ comeback win, scoring 25 points and collecting eight rebounds on 50% shooting, including four three-pointers.
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Knecht went 0-for-nine from three-point range during his first two games of the California Classic.
“I finally found my rhythm. Took a while, took a couple games but I just stayed the course.” Knecht said reflecting on his performance, “All my teammates believed in me to go out and hit those shots. When I saw one fall I kept shooting and my teammates kept finding me.”
The Lakers got off to a slow start, shooting less than 40% in the first half, but they found their rhythm when it mattered.
“Every single one of us picked up full court and made life pretty hard, trying to run them out of their sets which we did a good job off especially down the stretch.” Knecht said discussing what raised the teams level defensively.
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Bronny James, still working on getting his conditioning back to game level, played just over five minutes and scored two points.
Cole Swider, who tallied 15 points against the Spurs, was named to the 2025 All-California Classic team. Swider averaged 19.7 points, shooting 57.6% from the field, 47.6% from three and 91.7% from the free-throw line. Swider added five rebounds a game with a steal and a block in 28.7 minutes across three games.
The Lakers will travel to Las Vegas and will play the Dallas Mavericks, led by No. 1 draft pick Cooper Flagg, on Thursday.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
