No. 1: Defensive performance is lacking
The biggest takeaway from the season series against the Spurs has to be the performance on the defensive end of the court. For as good as the Lakers were on the offensive side of the ball, they were poor defensively.
The Spurs were able to score at will against the Lakers. DeMar DeRozan’s performance was touched on earlier, but he was far from the only San Antonio players to find success.
Los Angeles struggled with LaMarcus Aldridge in the first game, as he poured in a season-high 37 points. Rudy Gay scored 31 in the third game of the season series. San Antonio had multiple players off the bench score in double-figures in each of the three wins, but zero in their one loss.
The Spurs averaged 124.8 points per game. They made over 48 percent of their shot attempts in three of the four games, including a 3-point shooting barrage in Game 1 and Game 1. In Game 1, San Antonio knocked down 53.6 percent of their 3-point shots. In Game 4, they connected on 41.9 percent of their attempts from deep.
Late game breakdowns were a big issue for Los Angeles. They blew a six-point lead in overtime in Game 1 in the last 55 seconds of the game. In the second game, they scored only 18 points as the offense went stagnant. In the final game, everything crumbled, as they got blown out 44-21 in the final stanza.
Had the Lakers not struggled so much at the end of the games, they could have swept the season series against the Spurs. Unfortunately, those struggles occurred and the Lakers wrapped the season series up with the Spurs with a disappointing 1-3 record.