LeBron James celebrated his 36th birthday today with a Los Angeles Lakers win on the San Antonio Spurs (107-121) in which Marc Gasol returned to fulfill his role as a multipurpose player.
James, with 26 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds, not only celebrated his 36 years with a superb performance that showed that he is still in top form but also achieved with this game the historic mark of 1,000 consecutive games in the NBA regular season scoring at least 10 points.
It wasn’t the only detail today for NBA records. Becky Hammon, the Spurs assistant coach, became the first woman to lead a regular season game after coach Gregg Popovich was sent off for protesting to the referees late in the second quarter.
For his part, Gasol added 5 points (including an acrobatic basket plus additional shot in the last moment of the second quarter), he did not miss any shot to the basket, he captured 5 rebounds and distributed 2 assists in the 20 minutes he played.
The Spanish pivot has fully established himself as part of a Lakers starting quintet that, if there are no injuries involved, is made up of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Dennis Schroder, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Gasol himself.
The purple and gold set came from losing on Monday to the Portland Trail Blazers (107-115), but today they gave themselves a relatively comfortable victory with a game that practically dominated from start to finish by a distance that only in the final moments fell of the double digits with some danger for the Angelenos.
In addition to James, the winners of the NBA title in the “bubble” of Orlando (USA) also had the outstanding contribution of Schroder (21 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists) and a surprising Wesley Matthews (18 points with 6 of 6 in triples). The Lakers now stand with a balance of 3 wins and 2 losses.
For the Spurs, Dejounte Murray was the most notable player with 29 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. The San Antonio team is now left with 2 wins and 2 losses.
Becky Hammon
Becky Hammon, an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs, today became the first woman to lead an NBA team as head coach in a regular season game, and after the game, she admitted it was significant but also tried to deal with it. normally.
“Obviously it is something very big. It is an important moment,” he said in the press conference after the loss of the Spurs against the Los Angeles Lakers (107-121).
Hammon took over the Spurs reins today in the final stretch of the second quarter after Texans coach Gregg Popovich was sent off for protesting to umpires.
“Popovich pointed to me and that was it,” he summed up on how he found out he should step up. “Honestly, at the time I was just trying to win the game. I say this a lot, but I try not to think too much about the big picture or the huge aspect of it because it can be overwhelming,” he said. “It’s my job to get out there and be focused on these players and make sure I’m helping them,” she said.
Although her milestone quickly became one of the most talked about topics today on social networks, the coach assured that at that moment she was not yet very aware of what she had achieved. “I haven’t really had time to reflect. I haven’t looked at my phone so I have no idea what happened beyond the AT&T Center (Spurs’ stadium),” he explained.
The accolades also came from the rival team with Lakers star LeBron James at the helm. “She had to take charge today, show her work, show her talent and show her love for this sport,” James said. “She is very passionate about this sport. Congratulations to her and congratulations to our league,” he added.
Hammon had already directed a friendly game for the Spurs, but this was the first time he dealt with his team in an official regular season game. “This was a learning situation for all of us, but I would like to have ended the match with a victory for our players,” he said.
Hammon argued that his team made “a decent effort” against the Lakers, whom he described as “a tough team”, and confident that, facing the new duel against the purple and gold that will take place on Friday, the Spurs they will be able to “improve” to be more competitive.
She also stressed that her debut as head coach was normal for the Spurs squad, since they “are used to” hearing her scream and designing plays for them.
Hammon had a brilliant playing career in the WNBA, on teams like the San Antonio Stars; and in international basketball, in groups such as the Spanish Rivas Ecópolis and Ros Casares Valencia. In 2014, she retired as a player, took the bench and signed as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs, making her the first woman to serve on an NBA coaching staff.
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