After downing the New Orleans Pelicans 111-103 on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Lakers made a quick trip west and took on the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday to close out a brief two-game road trip. They came into Wednesday’s contest with three wins in a row and four in their last five contests, plus a feeling that perhaps they were starting to build a bit of real momentum again.

Prior to the opening tip, LeBron James was ruled out. His absence, along with those of Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura, created a very difficult situation for Los Angeles, especially offensively, against a Spurs team that came in with the Western Conference’s second-best record.

L.A. competed pretty well with the Spurs for two quarters and change despite a serious lack of offensive firepower. But the Spurs went up by double digits late in the third quarter, and the Lakers just didn’t have the horsepower to mount any type of rally. They ended up losing, 107-91.

It was as if the Lakers were stuck in mud during this game. They shot 39.5% from the field and 23.1% from 3-point range, and they were outscored 66-40 in the paint. San Antonio didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard either — it went just 4-of-16 from downtown — but it did enough to keep a very short-handed Lakers squad down.

Marcus Smart: C-minus/D-plus

After a strong performance on Tuesday, Smart was offensively weak on a night when the Lakers badly needed him to produce. He made only one of his six shot attempts and ended up with two points while committing four turnovers, although he did have seven rebounds, three steals and one assist in 34 minutes.

Defensively, he helped hold De’Aaron Fox to 15 points and Stephon Castle to 14 points. Castle shot just 5-of-14 from the field and missed all six of his 3-point tries.

Jarred Vanderbilt: D

Vanderbilt made very little of an impact in this game. He scored back-to-back layups early in the third quarter to bring L.A. to within two points, but that would be just about it for him as far as any positive statistical contributions. He scored four total points and had one steal, but the one stat that sticks out like a parrot in Antarctica is his zero rebounds in 19 minutes.

Jake LaRavia: A-minus/A

LaRavia was one of the very few Lakers players who played well in this game. He shot 6-of-13 from the field and 4-of-9 from downtown, giving him 16 points, and he also grabbed seven rebounds, with four of them coming on the offensive glass.

Offensive rebounding is starting to look like an underrated ability of his, and overall, he has had a total of 26 rebounds in his last four games.

Deandre Ayton: D

Ayton got very few easy looks in this game, and it seemed as if he had to rely on mid-range jumpers in order to score. He went 4-of-9 from the floor and scored nine points, and L.A. needed more than the six rebounds he got in 29 minutes. Defensively, while he helped hold Spurs center Victor Wembanyama to a modest scoring performance (16 points in 26 minutes), Wembanyama had 14 rebounds and four blocks.

Luka Doncic: A-minus

Doncic almost single-handedly carried the Lakers in the first half. During that time, he scored 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting, and in fact, he was their only player who had a single assist in the first half — he had seven, to be exact. For much of this game, it almost felt like he was going to war against San Antonio by himself, as he was only one of two Lakers players who mustered more than 10 points.

He finished with 38 points on 13-of-26 overall shooting, but he made just two of his nine 3-point attempts and 10 of his 16 free throw tries while committing seven turnovers. However, with 10 assists and 10 rebounds, he had his fourth triple-double of the season. This was also Doncic’s 51st 30-point triple-double of his career, which tied him with Nikola Jokić for the second-most in NBA history.

Jaxson Hayes: A-minus

Hayes did enough to help the Lakers’ cause in 18 minutes of playing time. He made all four of his field-goal attempts and scored 10 points, and he also grabbed seven rebounds, although he didn’t block a single shot.

Gabe Vincent: D

Vincent returned to game action after missing the last nine games with a back ailment. He made two of his eight shot attempts and went 2-of-7 from beyond the arc, and he ended up with six points, two rebounds and two assists in 18 minutes.

Maxi Kleber: D-plus

Kleber hustled enough defensively and on the boards in 12 minutes, and he came up with three rebounds and one steal. But he missed all three of his shot attempts and scored just one point.

Nick Smith Jr.: D

This was a game in which L.A. needed some significant offensive production from Smith, and he didn’t provide it. He went 1-of-4 overall and scored three points, to go along with one assist, in 10 minutes of playing time.

Dalton Knecht: D

In 19 minutes, Knecht was 1-of-6 overall and 0-of-5 from downtown, and as he often does, he displayed multiple instances of poor defense. He finished with two points, three rebounds, one block and three turnovers.

Chris Mañon, Bronny James, Drew Timme: Incomplete

Mañon, the younger James and Timme each played the final 51 seconds of the game. None of the three made any positive statistical contributions, and only Timme attempted a shot.