The Spurs secure a huge win in Los Angeles, beating the Lakers and advancing to the NBA Cup Semifinals.They will take on the Thunder on Saturday in Las Vegas. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/y1I9Tedpqs— theScore (@theScore) December 11, 2025
Spurs Too Quick And Fast For Lakers
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December 11, 2025 2 Comments
No question Lakers need to start Marcus Smart and move Rui Hachimura to the bench to get better D with starters and better O with bench. Marcus’ performance last night sealed the change. Now it’s just up to JJ to understand the need for the change and to make it when we return to court.
Timing wise, how we lost two of the last three games should end any question whether the Laker need a blockbuster trade for an elite 3&D starting small forward and shot blocking defensive center. The combination of poor point of attack defense and poor rim protection cannot survive the playoffs. Time to see what a Mark Walter Lakers trade looks like.
Good to have the break right now. JJ can work Smart into the starting lineup and Rui into the bench lineups. Those stats for the Big Three that are negative are bothersome, especially since the stats for any 2 of the Lakers Big 3 on the court are elite. The harsh reality is the expected juggernaut when all three play has not emerged.
These games raise serious questions about the success of the Lakers Big Three. It’s a lot harder to cover for deficiencies of three star players when you only have two role playrers. Much easier to find three great role players to cover weaknesses of just two stars.
Mark Walter and his team are analytics true believers. JJ needs to figure out how to make the Big Three work, especially with a center who is not a great rim protector. That leaves you with just one and a half starters to upgrade the defense. Only thing we can do now is start Marcus for Rui to balance the O and D of the starters and bench until Rob pulls off a trade.
And it could get messy waiting another entire month for Herb Jones to become trade eligible.