Any chance the Lakers had at trying to capture a second NBA Cup championship in the third season of the tournament evaporated for good in the fourth quarter against a young, fast and athletic San Antonio Spurs team missing its best player.
The Lakers won the inaugural NBA Cup title in 2023 and had designs on winning it again in 2025 and the $500,000 cash that goes to each player on the championship team.
But it was not to be — not with the Lakers unable to slow down the Spurs during a 132-119 quarterfinal loss Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
The Lakers got down by as much as 24 points in the fourth and made a run to get to within eight points late in the fourth quarter.
But the Lakers got no closer and now will face the Suns in Phoenix on Sunday.
The Spurs will meet the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night in Las Vegas in the semifinals.
Luka Doncic had 35 points, eight rebounds and five assists, Marcus Smart came off the bench to score 26 and LeBron James had 19 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists. But that wasn’t enough against a Spurs team that had seven players score in double figures.
Stephon Castle led the Spurs with 30 points and De’Aaron Fox had 20.
When the Lakers needed someone to lift them when they got down by 18 points in the second, someone to provide them a spark when there wasn’t one for so much of the quarter, they finally got it from the oldest player on the court, 40-year-old LeBron James.
James drove down the lane and threw down a thunderous dunk over Spurs 7-1 center Luke Kornet, bringing the Lakers to within eight points and charging up the crowd in the process.
James growled and yelled in the face of the reeling Kornet. The crowd stood and cheered, now happy that there was a Lakers’ awakening.
Lebron James and Jaxson Hayes react after James dunked against Spurs center Luke Kornet in the first half.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
But the Lakers couldn’t hold on to that momentum, falling behind 70-58 at the half.
And then when the third quarter started, the Lakers came out flat, giving up back-to-back threes and two more easy baskets for the Spurs to fall into an 80-60 hole early in the third.
The Lakers didn’t make it easy on themselves either.
Doncic got a technical foul in the first quarter after no foul was called after Kelly Olynyk smacked him in the face and Lakers coach JJ Redick was called for a technical foul in the second quarter.
When the Lakers last faced the Spurs a little over a month ago here, San Antonio superstar Victor Wembanyama played in a game L.A. won, but speedy point guard De’Aaron Fox did not.
It was the opposite this time, with Fox playing and Wembanyama out with a left calf strain.
The 7-5 Wembanyama has been out for almost a month and the super-quick Fox has been back during that time, which has changed the dynamic of the Spurs, which meant the Lakers had to shift how they played defense against San Antonio.
The Spurs are more guard-oriented with Fox, Castle and Dylan Harper.
The Lakers got a taste of how much faster the Spurs are now in the first quarter, when L.A. gave up 39 points and trailed by nine after the first frame.
The Spurs show 56% from the field in the first, 50% (six-for-12) from three-point range.
Keldon Johnson came off the bench to score 13 points in the first quarter for the Spurs.
“Yeah, they’re running a lot of pick and rolls with Fox, a lot of pick and rolls with Castle and Harper,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said pregame about the Spurs’ new way of playing. “And all those pick and rolls lead to drives, those pick and rolls lead to kick-outs and catch two threes and then more drives. So, we’ve got to do a good job of containing the basketball and do a good job of contesting.”
