Are teams starting to figure out the Los Angeles Lakers? LA has had an excellent season so far, but they've shown some weaknesses in their armor. They've lost three of their last five games, including losses to the Phoenix Suns, Boston Celtics, and, most recently, the San Antonio Spurs. It's been a rough week for LA, which has fallen to fourth place in the Western Conference.
Interestingly, it seems like a few teams have found a potential blueprint for guarding the Lakers. Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves have been an insane one-two punch for LA this season. Their opponents have seemingly keyed in on the duo's tendencies and where they can be exploited. Head coach JJ Redick pointed out the strategy that both the Suns and Spurs employed against them.
“JJ Redick pointed out that the Spurs played a similar defense to what the Suns showed last week, keeping a big (Kornet) at the rim in a deep drop as the Suns did (Williams), not putting two on the ball, encouraging the non-deep-paint contested twos to Dončić/Reaves,” Mike Trudell reported.
Doncic still had an excellent game, scoring 35 points, grabbing five rebounds, and dishing out eight assists in their 132-119 loss to the Spurs. Reaves, on the other hand, had a relatively quiet outing. The Lakers guard scored only 15 points on 6-16 shooting. Reaves did contribute in other areas (eight rebounds, seven assists, and a block), but both he and Doncic battled foul trouble during the game.
The loss to the Spurs knocked the Lakers out of the NBA Cup, bowing out in the quarterfinals. Even without Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio made relatively easy work of LA. Stephon Castle led the way with 30 points for the Spurs, while De'Aaron Fox added 20 points to guide them to victory.
