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The answer was entirely predictable: “Good.”
The question that elicited the response above from Austin Reaves: How was he feeling physically?
Reaves doesn’t make excuses, and he wasn’t about to start now, not in the wake of a 132-119 defeat by the San Antonio Spurs at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night.
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Except Reaves didn’t look “good” in the loss.
Read more: LeBron James is just focused on the now as Lakers fall to Spurs in the NBA Cup
He finished with a modest 15 points, including only four in the first half.
The underwhelming performance followed an 11-point game against the Philadelphia 76ers three days earlier.
“Just didn’t get the ball to go in the basket,” Reaves said.
Or was it something more?
Was the offensive burden he shouldered up to this point starting to take a toll on him?
Had the former undrafted free agent really elevated his game to a new level or was he just on a six-week heater?
The answers will be revealed in the coming weeks.
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The Lakers, however, already know they can’t win with Reaves playing the way he did against the Spurs, when he made only two of six shots in the opening half.
Reaves has to score for this version of the Lakers to beat a team like the Spurs. He has to score because they can’t stop anyone.
Their on-ball perimeter defense is atrocious.
Their three-point defense is dreadful.
Their transition defense is shocking.
“Very few teams don’t have something that you can expose and we consistently got exposed to the same things,” coach JJ Redick said.
Bill Parcells once said you are what your record says you are, but that might not be the case with the Lakers, who are 17-7.
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In their last six games, Lakers opponents have shot 49%, including 45% on threes. Redick’s team has allowed an average of 122 points per game.
“The things that help you win on the margins, we’re just not very good at right now,” Redick said.
The defense against the Spurs was particularly awful, the visitors making 50% of their threes in the first two periods to take a 70-58 lead into halftime with their franchise player Victor Wembanyama sidelined with a…
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Publish date : 2025-12-11 15:25:00
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