The San Antonio Spurs made light work of the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night. How did it go so right for them?

Fifteen seconds into Tuesday’s Spurs-Lakers matchup at Crypto.com Arena, De’Aaron Fox used a Victor Wembanyama screen to drive left and attack basket. As he approached the baseline, he swung a hammer pass to the weak-side. The awaiting Julian Champagnie knocked down an open right corner three-pointer, helping San Antonio strike first with a 3-0 lead. The Spurs continued to roll from there.

Victor Wembanyama set the tone early, dropping 25 in the first quarter. This includes a stretch of 17 consecutive points by himself. It was the crucial part of 47-30 opening frame. San Antonio didn’t let up from there, nor did Victor. They entered halftime with an 84-55 advantage and a 115-81 lead after three quarters. Wemby came away with 40 points and 12 rebounds on the evening.

The other key to the walloping was the fact that the Lakers stepped on the court heavily short-handed. The entire starting lineup of Luka Doncic, Marcus Smart, Austin Reaves, LeBron James, and Deandre Ayton sat out Tuesday’s game due to various ailments. That’s 103.4 points per game in street clothes. This left the remaining 13 rostered players to fend for themselves and do their best against the French superstar his merry title-contending crew.

San Antonio’s dominance against LA’s Others was apparent on the scoreboard and the stat sheet. The Spurs won the rebounding battle (45-34), the turnover battle (12-18), the paint-points battle (72-50), the second-chance battle (18-13), and even the fastbreak battle (25-15). It was a clinic.

While Wembanyama’s 40-piece is a huge reason for the result, the Spurs as a whole was operating on a higher level. Even when taking out Victor’s shooting, the team still shot 54.2 percent from the field. A game like this could have been a trap game, but the San Antonio Spurs rose to the moment and steamrolled a team they were suppose to steamroll. That’s a positive sign to look for in a title-contending team.