James: We need some of our guys back

LOS ANGELES • Things have not been going right for the depleted Los Angeles Lakers this month.

They have been affected by players in the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Covid-19 health and safety protocols, culminating in a season-high fourth straight defeat on Thursday which LeBron James attributed to a makeshift team lacking "chemistry".

On top of that, they did not manage to give the Staples Centre a victorious send-off as the downtown Los Angeles venue will be renamed the Crypto.com Arena today.

The Lakers fell to 16-17 this season after Keita Bates-Diop scored a career-high 30 points on a perfect 11-of-11 shooting as the San Antonio Spurs used a balanced attack - with six players in double figures - to roll to a 138-110 win.

"We have no chemistry with any line-up from the simple fact that we haven't logged any minutes," James, who had a game-high 36 points, lamented on ESPN.

"All of our defensive guys are in health and safety protocols. We don't need a full roster. We just need some of our guys back."

Russell Westbrook had 30 points and seven rebounds for the Lakers, who continued to be short-handed with Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore, Malik Monk, Avery Bradley and Austin Reaves in health and safety protocols.

Coach Frank Vogel has also been in the protocols, causing him to miss his third consecutive game.

The team were also without Anthony Davis for the third straight match, and he is expected to miss four weeks with a knee injury.

Derrick White added 23 points and Lonnie Walker IV had 21 for the Spurs (13-18), who finished a 3-1 road trip.

Keldon Johnson scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Doug McDermott and Jock Landale added 13 points each.

San Antonio's leading scorer on the season, Dejounte Murray, had nine points with 13 assists on a night when the Spurs had 33 assists on 46 made field goals. The Spurs led in bench points 69-20.

"Really was a team effort, because I thought some of the (bench) guys outplayed the starters," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "Keita was ridiculous. Did a fine job at both ends of the court. We could hardly guard LeBron, but he did his best."

Bates-Diop, too, felt that it was vital to guard four-time NBA champion James properly to have any chance of clinching victory.

He said: "I was playing the game, reading the defence, moving around... I don't think I dribbled that much. My teammates just found me. (James) is a great player, but you've got to guard him and just not get star-struck by him."

The Spurs took advantage of a relatively weak Lakers line-up early and the game was tied with 3min 38sec remaining in the first quarter before the visitors went on a 12-3 run to take a 33-24 lead at the end of the period.

San Antonio had their first double-digit lead at 38-28 on a Landale dunk with 10:52 remaining in the first half.

They led 66-55 at half-time and pushed the advantage to 105-92 after three quarters.

A 33-18 run in the final period ensured that they claimed the win.

In San Francisco, Stephen Curry exploded for 46 points as the Golden State Warriors beat the Memphis Grizzlies 113-104 at the Chase Centre.

His point total was the product of 13-for-22 shooting overall, including eight-for-14 from three-point range, and 12-for-12 success at the foul line.

It was his second-highest point total of the season behind only a 50-point night against the Atlanta Hawks last month.

REUTERS