SB nations report:The Lakers just recieved sad and terrifying news

Friday was a bit of mixed feelings for the Lakers as they earned a 123-118 win over the Spurs.

First, the positives: the Lakers earned a win on the second night of a back-to-back, LeBron James returned to the court and looked great and Anthony Davis didn’t need to play in the fourth quarter to earn the win. With a playoff push forming, any win is a good win.

At the same time, the Lakers have made a habit of taking comfortable wins and making them still feel underwhelming. The final score is not indicative of how the Lakers controlled the game when LeBron exited, but it’s not the first time they’ve had a deceiving scoreline in a win.

Does it matter? Probably not. But there is a notable difference walking off the court with a 15-point win versus a 5-point win, no matter how comfortable a victory it was.

It’s also impossible to talk about this game and not talk about Victor Wembanyama. LeBron said it best postgame, honestly

We obviously don’t grade the opponents but that was an A-plus game. A 5×5 from a rookie one night after finishing an assist shy of a 5×5 is unfathomably good. Wemby is legit and the real deal.

So, let’s grade the win. As always, grades are based on expectations for each player. A “B” grade represents the average performance for that player.

After a pretty miserable game against the Warriors, Rui had a nice bounceback performance on Friday. He was far more aggressive, which is a key for him regardless of if his shot is falling or not. Give me a version of Rui getting to the rim and bullying smaller defenders and I’ll take it, regardless of what the final stat line ends up.

The last real NBA action for LeBron came before Valentine’s Day, but you wouldn’t have known it at all. He said his ankle was “so-so” postgame, but it looked fine to me.

It’s obvious his health is paramount to the ceiling of this team. Keep your fingers crossed and rub your lucky rabbit’s foot the rest of the season.

Just a casually dominant performance from AD in under 30 minutes. In two games against Wemby and the Spurs this year, AD has 65 points, 23 rebounds and five steals and is shooting 23-37 from the field in 66 minutes.

Having him play just 29 minutes and sitting the whole fourth quarter isn’t a small thing, either. With a huge match-up against the Suns on Sunday, giving him the most rest possible was a win on Friday.