The Los Angeles Lakers won West Group B of the Emirates NBA Cup with a perfect 4-0 record, setting themselves up to host the San Antonio Spurs in the quarterfinals of the Knockout Rounds.
The Lakers entered the primetime matchup with the upper hand as they held homecourt and the Spurs were without Victor Wembanyama who isn’t quite ready to return from a calf injury. A win for Los Angeles would have meant a trip to Las Vegas to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the semifinals, but instead San Antonio is the one that punched its ticket.
On the other side of the bracket, the New York Knicks will take on the Orlando Magic after they beat the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat, respectively.
The Lakers lost to the Spurs 132-119, though the final score wasn’t indicative of how poorly the team played. Los Angeles looked a step slow in the first quarter as they failed to defend the 3-point line, but from that point forward San Antonio simply generated any shot it wanted.
Despite a fourth quarter rally where the Lakers got within single digits, the defense failed to stop the Spurs and they wound up getting eliminated from the tournament.
Lakers traveling to Suns on Sunday
With Los Angeles out of the Emirates NBA Cup, they’ll head on the road to take on the Phoenix Suns on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 5:00 p.m. PT. Interestingly enough, this means the Lakers will have played the Suns five times once the 2025-26 season concludes as they were already scheduled to play four times since they’re in the same division.
It’s disappointing to see Los Angeles out of the NBA Cup, but at least they’re afforded a couple extra days of rest. Several players on the team, including LeBron James, have been banged up so any additional breaks the players can get is definitely welcomed.
A healthy Lakers squad will be required to beat a Suns squad that ran them out of the gym in their last matchup. Phoenix punched first and never let up, continually coming at L.A. on both ends of the floor.
The purple and gold have been exposed the past couple of weeks, but a win against the Suns would help right the ship.
JJ Redick believes ‘Monstars’ took over Lakers’ brains in recent loss to Suns
The Lakers looked completely out of sort in the recent loss to the Suns, with some attributing it to fatigue. Head coach JJ Redick was able to somehow find some humor in the defeat as he joked that perhaps his team was taken over by the ‘Monstars’ from Space Jam.
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