Austin Reeves calls for ‘weakness’ to prove Rich Paul wrong
There were several questions in Crypto after The Los Angeles Lakers stumbled against the San Antonio Spurs, losing in NBA Cup Quarterfinals. Now, the Lakers Austin Reaves addressed comments from Rich Paul, LeBron James’ agent, about the team’s defensive weakness, according to a post by NBA reporter Dave McMenamin.
“That’s a weakness we have to get better at. The spirit is still high here, we know we can do it … But we have to be a five-man guard group,” Reaves told McMenamin.
Reaves dealt with perimeter weakness the The spurs are constantly exposedwhich allowed them to cruise to a 132-119 victory on Wednesday. Stephon Castle benefited from this, leading the Spurs with 30 points on 10-of-14 shooting, including 3-of-6 from 3-point range. Likewise, De’Aaron Fox was solid, scored 20 points while shooting 8 of 17 from the floor. Harrison Barnes added 16 points, while Keldon Johnson led the bench with 17 points and Julian Champagne had 16.
The Spurs shot 50% from the floor, including 44.7% from beyond the arc. In addition, they won the battle on the boards 50-43, which allowed them to get more opportunities. What made this win even more impressive was the fact that Spurs were without Victor Wembanyama.
The Lakers are still 17-7 and fourth in the Western Conference. However, their seven losses this season have exposed what happens when their defense collapses and the offense can’t make up for it. Alarmingly, they allowed at least 120 points in four of their five December games. Not surprisingly, the Lakers are 2-3 in those games.
Many of their recent wins, including wins over lower-ranked teams like the New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers, have seen them simply outplay teams. But their losses to elite teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder showed the Lakers still have work to do to fix a defense that is allowing 115.9 points per game, 14th in the NBA. The Lakers have their next chance to bounce back on Sunday against the Phoenix Suns.
2025-12-11 16:40:00
