LOS ANGELES—On Wednesday, the San Antonio Spurs battled the L.A. Lakers for a spot in the Semifinals of the NBA Cup. From the onset it was the Spurs who reigned supreme defeating the Lakers 132-119 at Crypto.com Arena.
San Antonio now travels to Las Vegas to face the 24-1 defending NBA Champs, the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Semifinals. The Lakers need to improve their defense desperately.
Stephon Castle scored 21 of his 30 points in the second half, and De’Aaron Fox added 20 points in the San Antonio Spurs’ victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Victor Wembanyama missed his 12th straight game with a calf injury, but traveled with the Spurs. Many fans felt the loss of Wemby meant smooth sailing to Sin City.
For those fans still confused about the NBA Cup: here is a brief explanation.
An annual in-season tournament for all 30 NBA teams, featuring a group stage followed by single-elimination knockout rounds, culminating in a championship game in Las Vegas, with special uniforms, courts, and significant prize money ($500k per player for winners) to create early-season stakes, with most games counting towards the regular season and playoff seeding.
Going into the matchup, the Lakers confidence was sky high with a 4-0 record in the group stage. In addition, the Purple and Gold won the inaugural Cup in 2023.
Stephon Castle scored 21 of his 30 points in the second half, and De’Aaron Fox added 20 points in the win. Keldon Johnson had 17 points and 8 rebounds as the Spurs maintained a double-digit lead for most of the final three quarters to claim the last Cup semifinal spot in Las Vegas.
For the Lakers, Luka Doncic scored 35 points and LeBron James had 19 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists for the Lakers, who lost for only the third time in 12 games. Los Angeles trimmed its deficit to eight points late in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t get closer.
Marcus Smart scored a season-high 26 points with eight 3-pointers for the Lakers, and Austin Reaves had 15 points.
The Lakers defense has been awful all season. Last night, it was exposed for the NBA world to see.
San Antonio made a 17-2 run and jumped to an 18-point lead in the second quarter, with Castle and Harrison Barnes exploiting Los Angeles’ season-long struggles in perimeter shooting defense.
Our Lakers are mired in the bottom five in the league in opponents’ 3-point percentage (38.2%), by hitting 17-of-38 from the outside (44.7%) and leading by as many as 24 points in the elimination game for the in-season tournament.
When the Spurs weren’t launching from beyond the arc, their guards were penetrating into the paint, compromising L.A.’s interior defense so much the Lakers often had no choice but to foul.
San Antonio went 29-for-36 from the foul line compared with the Lakers’ 17-for-23.
Despite L.A.’s 17-7 start to the season, the loss mirrored many of the Lakers’ other lopsided defeats in the first quarter of the regular-season schedule.
The Lakers travel to Arizona to face the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.