No quarter: Third periods have been Lakers' worst stanzas

The Lakers‘ struggles in the second halves of games are causing problems for them, Jovan Buha of The Athletic writes. Los Angeles has been outscored by 83 points in the third quarter of its 13 contests, good for the worst in the league, according to Buha.

The Lakers led Minnesota at halftime of Friday’s game 49-44, then lost the third quarter 40-12. The result was a disappointing 107-83 home loss.

“What we can’t do is, one, point the finger,” Anthony Davis said. “You know, ‘It was you.’ ‘It was you.’ ‘It was you.’ ‘This play was you.’ Like, we got to stay together. And we’ll stay together. But also, we got to learn from the film. And so the film is going to be big for us to have another heart-to-heart about these type of games. We hate feeling this way.

“Obviously, if we lose — we’re going to lose games; everybody loses games. But doing it the right way. Having a team actually beat us, not beating ourselves. And those are the frustrating ones, when we beat ourselves.”

Here are some other notes from the Western Conference:

• Any Mavericks players who came in contact with Bulls center Nikola Vucevic during Dallas' game on Wednesday have been tested for COVID-19, Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News tweets. The tests returned negative. Vucevic tested positive for coronavirus just one day after the game, prompting some Mavericks players to receive cautionary tests.
• The Spurs have been using the fast break as a secret weapon, Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News writes. San Antonio has a young, guard-heavy team, allowing the Spurs to play in transition and put pressure on teams to recover defensively. San Antonio holds just a 4-8 record through 12 games, nevertheless.
• The pressure continues to increase for the young Rockets, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle opines. Houston lost its 10th straight game on Friday, dropping a 104-92 home contest to the Blazers. Houston owns the league’s second-worst record at 1-11.