Los Angeles Lakers: 5 Lessons from the loss to the Spurs

SAN ANTONIO, TX - DECEMBER 7: LaMarcus Aldridge #12 of the San Antonio Spurs blocks shot of LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers at AT&T Center on December 7 , 2018 in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that , by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images)
SAN ANTONIO, TX - DECEMBER 7: LaMarcus Aldridge #12 of the San Antonio Spurs blocks shot of LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers at AT&T Center on December 7 , 2018 in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that , by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images) /
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Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images) /

The Los Angeles Lakers lost to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night. Here are five lessons from the loss.

The Los Angeles Lakers played the San Antonio Spurs on the road to try to extend their winning streak to five games. It was a game that had some implications considering a loss would cost them the season series to the Spurs. Many thought this was a must-win in a sense for the Lakers.

The Lakers were riding high going into this one after running past the Spurs on Wednesday night…

A game when the Lakers were on the ropes with ten minutes left in the 4th quarter and LeBron James decided to take over the ESPN network putting on a show…

…single-handedly setting the tone running past the Spurs scoring 20 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists in the last frame.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1071255841326546945

Two days later, this game went exactly the OPPOSITE WAY as the Spurs were down and out and got hot as cooking fish grease to get revenge. The San Antonio Spurs won the game and the season series beating the Los Angeles Lakers 133-120. Instead of splitting the season series, the Lakers finish 1-3 which could come back to bite the Lakers at the end of the season if the Western Conference stays as tight as it has all season long. If these teams end in a tie, the season series record breaks the tie.

The message…The Lakers had better stay in front of the Spurs in the loss column for the rest of the year.

I cannot lie, this game gave me writer’s block. It took me about 20 minutes to figure out how the Lakers lost after being up as many as 15 points in the game and up ten going into the 4th quarter. There were so many subplots and issues in this game, the Memphis game on Saturday will be over before I got to all of them.

I think I got the real issues boiled down to three main storylines.

Here are my five lessons…