The Lakers struggled defensively on Wednesday against the Spurs, allowing 50% shooting from the field along with 17 made threes to fall to San Antonio, 132-119, in the NBA Cup quarterfinals.
A second-quarter run by the Spurs, who were without Victor Wembanyama, opened the game up as LA trailed by double digits for most of the rest of the game. San Antonio led by as many as 24 in the fourth quarter before a Lakers run trimmed the margin to single digits briefly before the Spurs put the game to rest.
The Lakers jumped out to a strong start led by Ayton’s six points. LeBron and Luka combined for nine points. Reaves was dishing dimes, tallying three early. Stephon Castle was cooking for the Spurs with six early points while De’Aaron Fox had five points.
At the first timeout, LA was up by four.
Out of the break, Hachimura drained a 3-pointer. Harrison Barnes responded with a 3-pointer of his own. San Antonio had gotten to within one, but a pair of triples from Luka put Los Angeles back ahead by four.
Keldon Johnson scored four straight to tie the game. The Spurs started shooting lights out as the quarter came to a close while the Lakers started missing their shots. At the end of the first, the purple and gold were down by nine.
Julian Champagnie added to run with a 3-pointer to start the second period. LA missed its first six shot attempts in the quarter. Champagnie knocked down another 3-pointer as everything continued to go San Antonio’s way.
Suddenly, Los Angeles found themselves down by 17.
LeBron stopped some of the bleeding with a jumper. Ayton was up to eight points after tipping in a missed shot by LeBron. Luka scored six points to inject some life into the team.
LA had begun to close the second half well, going on a 10-3 run, almost cutting the deficit to single digits. LeBron threw down a monstrous dunk on Luke Kornet, but it was followed by Los Angeles allowing the Spurs to score four straight to close the half to trail by 12.
It was a rough start to the second half for LA as they allowed San Antonio to score 10 points, making it a 20-point game. Castle was shouldering the load for the Spurs with seven points in the quarter.
Hachimura drained a 3-pointer to stop a slight amount of the bleeding. Things continued to go downhill for Los Angeles. They not only struggled to score, but also couldn’t find a single ounce of defense.
At the 4:29 mark, the Lakers were down by 16.
Smart drained three 3-pointers off the bench, trying to put some life into the team. He was the only player off the bench who was showing any worth. But it mattered little, as LA was still down by 17 at the end of the third.
The final frame began with a 3-pointer from Reaves. San Antonio followed with six straight points. The Spurs then began to sleepwalk midway through the quarter, leading to Los Angeles mounting a comeback.
A 15-4 scoring run from LA had made it an eight-point deficit, until San Antonio went on an 8-2 scoring run of their own with a 3-pointer from Castle putting a complete stop to Los Angeles’ comeback attempt.
At the 1:09 mark, the Lakers emptied their bench.
Key Player Stats
Luka Dončić ended with 35 points, eight assists and five rebounds. LeBron James had 19 points with 15 rebounds and eight blocks. Austin Reaves notched 15 points with eight rebounds and seven assists.
Marcus Smart was huge off the bench with 26 points on 8-13 shooting from the 3-point line. Deandre Ayton pitched in with 11 points and eight rebounds.
The Lakers’ next matchup will be against the Suns, who lost the other quarterfinal matchup in the Western Conference. The time and date are not yet known.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.
