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When the Los Angeles Lakers assembled their roster last summer, they envisioned the dreamlike starting backcourt of Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash leading the team into playoff battles.

But as has been the case for most of the season, the Lakers' dream became a nightmare: Due to a rash of injuries to their rotational guards, Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock were forced to start a playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night.

Except the duo's play wasn’t the issue in Game 3. The two combined for 44 points on 17-of-32 shooting, which is better than some of the nights Bryant and Nash have had as a duo.

The issue was the defensive end of the floor, as the Lakers allowed the Spurs to score 120 points on 61.2 percent shooting. The Spurs had more turnovers (14 to 13) and less made free throws (11 to 15), yet they still won by 31 points, making for the worst home loss in Lakers playoff history.

While the Lakers certainly had every excuse to lose considering the personnel they were playing, it was disconcerting to see how little effort they put into their defensive execution, especially in their transition defense.

In the beginning of the fourth quarter, Pau Gasol threw up a wild shot out of a double-team on the left block and, thinking he was fouled, yelled out in frustration and stopped to stare at the nearest referee.

Meanwhile, Manu Ginobili grabbed the rebound and ignited a fast break as Tim Duncan raced downcourt, easily outpacing both Gasol and Dwight Howard, who had also decided to jog back.

One of the keys of transition defense -- which no Laker did -- is stopping the ball, as all five guys turned their backs to Ginobili, who had time to wind up and throw a three-quarters court pass to a wide-open Duncan in the paint.

Chris Duhon, the only Laker who hustled back, had no choice but to foul Duncan, and only then did Gasol and Howard finally get into the fray. Duncan, who’s 37 years old and had played just as many minutes as either Laker big men at the time, made both free throws, extending the Spurs’ lead to 90-67 with 10:41 remaining.

Even when trailing by over 20 points and trying to make a late-game comeback, the Lakers haven’t had the determination to play consistent defense.

Despite misconception, the Spurs aren’t a potent transition team, ranking just 13th in fast-break points and 17th in transition points per possession, but the Lakers allowed them to score 19 fast-break points, which would rank second in the league throughout the season.

By virtually every conceivable category, the Lakers are a below-average defensive team. The Spurs have taken advantage of that all series, using well-timed offensive flurries to turn a one- or two-possession game into a double-digit deficit.

Against an offensive juggernaut like San Antonio that has more depth and talent than the Lakers, there’s almost no margin for error, as Game 3 showed. For the Lakers to have any chance at winning Game 4 on Sunday and extending the series for at least one more game, they’ll have to show a level of defensive coherence and effort that’s been missing all season.

Stats used in this post are from ESPN.com, NBA.com/Stats and MySynergySports.com.

SAN ANTONIO -- If any one thing was established in Game 1 of the Los Angeles Lakers' series against the San Antonio Spurs, it was the Kobe Bryant-less Lakers intend to get the ball inside to Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol early, often and always.

"We're inside-out now," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said Monday. "We're full blown and we're going to keep doing that."

Howard and Gasol accounted for 28 of the Lakers' 73 shots Sunday (38.4 percent). But they also coughed up 10 of the Lakers' 18 turnovers.

It's a good thing L.A. is committing to Howard, a seven-time All-Star, and Gasol, a four-time All-Star, but the problem is if you go to the well one too many times against a solid, well-coached defensive team such as San Antonio, the predictability hurts you.

"Let's see if we can have a little bit better ball movement before we try to get the ball in, because if we try to fight it too much and force it too much is when the turnovers came in, most of them," Gasol said. "So, we just got to move their defense a little bit better and swing the ball, then try to post the ball up into Dwight or myself. Then it won't be as easy for them to front or make things hard for us."

D'Antoni said the goal for the two practices between Sunday's Game 1 and Wednesday's Game 2 was "cleaning up our offense."

That entails cutting down on the 18 turnovers that led to 14 points for the Spurs, but also shooting the ball better. L.A. shot just 41.1 percent overall from the field, and an anemic 3-for-15 on 3-pointers (20 percent). D'Antoni said Andrew Goudelock, an undersized guard with a legitimate 3-point stroke who was in the D-League a week ago, could also get playing time.

"A lot of it is just not being familiar with what we’re trying to do, putting in new sets, guys not being in the right spots," D'Antoni said. "A lot of it is [the Spurs] are active and they're good. We have to be a little bit smoother in what we're doing in trying to clear out. Again, we're trying to put the ball inside all the time into a tight spot. We got a lot of guys in there, so it's just trying to clean and do a better job. Some of it was we just mishandled the ball. We just got to be a little more careful with the ball."

Gasol was asked to explain exactly what the "new sets" and "wrinkles" that D'Antoni was talking about the Lakers had planned, without giving away too much.

"We're just trying to move the ball and create a couple actions before we dump the ball in the post," Gasol said. "We got to move their defense so the passes are not so forced and it's not so predictable and everybody sees that we're trying to keep that path right now and everybody's looking at it.

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SAN ANTONIO -- Jodie Meeks sat with his left leg elevated on the chair next to him as he watched his teammates shoot around after practice Tuesday.

Meeks missed his second consecutive practice after spraining his left ankle in the first half of the Los Angeles Lakers' 91-79 Game 1 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.

Despite sitting out, the Lakers backup guard said he plans to "give it a go" in Wednesday's Game 2.

"It's the playoffs, man," Meeks said. "If it was the regular season, I'd sit out."

Meeks, who averaged 7.9 points during the regular season, scored just four points in Game 1 on 1-for-4 shooting, and also had two turnovers in 20 minutes.

Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said there was "no doubt" the team would turn to Darius Morris to fill in with some minutes if Meeks is too hampered to play. Morris went 0-for-1 from the field and picked up one foul in eight minutes Sunday.

D'Antoni said recent signee Andrew Goudelock could play as well.

"We need somebody to put the ball in the basket," D'Antoni said.

The Lakers shot just 3-for-15 from 3 (20 percent) in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series with the Spurs.

D'Antoni says he hopes Steve Nash is one of the players improving that shooting line. Nash scored 16 points on 6-for-15 shooting Sunday and missed the only 3-pointer he took, playing for the first time in nine games because of nerve damage in his right hamstring stemming from a right hip injury.

Nash was able to practice Monday and Tuesday, however, and D'Antoni said he was going to rely on the 17-year veteran guard in Game 2.

"I think about 5-6 minutes is all he needs to go [at a time]," D'Antoni said about Nash, who contributed to the Lakers being a plus-2 in the 30 minutes he played Sunday. "Then he starts going over the hill a little bit. So, we'll watch out. But, we're going to need him out on the floor. So, he'll get through some stuff. He's a competitor, once he gets out there, he wants to go. So we'll try to watch it and then try to watch how he looks physically."

SAN ANTONIO -- Sometime during the third quarter of a Game 1 that just couldn't find a rhythm, Kobe Bryant chimed in on Twitter some 1,350 miles away from San Antonio at his Newport Beach, Calif. home.

"This game has a 'steal one' written all over it for us," Bryant tweeted.

It looked that way for a little while, with the Los Angeles Lakers cutting the San Antonio Spurs' lead that was 12 shortly after halftime down to four after a Steve Blake fadeaway jumper midway through the third. But rather than wilt with a little pressure, San Antonio had the cushion back to 13 heading into the fourth and ultimately held firm for a 91-79 victory.

Coming into the series, the Lakers talked about their defense needing to show up and set the tone, and guess what? That happened.

The Spurs shot just 37.6 percent from the field, but L.A. was more anemic on offense, shooting three for 15 (20 percent) on 3-pointers.

We'll see if the Lakers missed a golden opportunity Sunday or if they just needed to flush a game out of their system before Game 2.

How it happened: Quite simply, the Spurs' guy with the injured hamstring outplayed the Lakers' guy with the injured hamstring. Not that Steve Nash was terrible out there, he gutted out 16 points on 6-for-15 shooting in 31 minutes with three assists and just one turnover, but he was a step slow on defense and missed a few timely shots that really could have made it a tight game in the third. Manu Ginobili, meanwhile, only scored two more points than Nash (18) and shot slightly better (6-for-13), but he made timely contributions with a momentum-swinging 3-pointer late in the third quarter to put the Spurs up 12 and a nail-in-the-coffin assist to Matt Bonner, who hit a 3 late in the fourth, to seal it.

What it means: The Spurs came into the game having lost their last five regular-season games against Western Conference playoff teams, and coach Gregg Popovich admitted that his team looked "discombobulated" when he spoke to the media before Sunday's game. Meanwhile, the Lakers had won five straight, including two in a row without Bryant, and seemed to be clicking. So, what does Game 1 mean? That the regular season is ancient history. The Spurs got back to their game when it counted. Now L.A. has to prove it can do the same.

Hits: Pau Gasol (16 points, 16 rebounds, six assists) was just four assists away from his third triple-double in his past four games.

Dwight Howard had 20 points and 15 rebounds and was able to manage playing with five fouls without fouling out.

Misses: Jodie Meeks (1-for-4) not only had a rough day from the field, but he suffered a mild sprain of his left ankle. Lakers trainer Gary Vitti re-taped Meeks, and the backup guard was able to get back in the game, but they’ll have to monitor the swelling heading into Game 2.

Howard started off 2-for-2 from the free throw line and finished 4-for-8.

Stat of the game: Howard (8-for-12) was the only Lakers player to shoot better than 50 percent.

Up next: The teams get two days of rest before Wednesday's Game 2. The time off should benefit the Lakers, as it will give Nash and Meeks two days to recover and Mike D'Antoni two days to make adjustments.

After one of the most arduous and pitfall-filled seasons in Los Angeles Lakers history, if not in the entire history of the league, the guys in purple and gold find themselves in the postseason with a first-round series against the San Antonio Spurs.

L.A. has to feel good about itself, finishing the regular season 28-12 after bottoming out with a record eight games below .500 in late January. They were even better in April, going 7-1, including winning their last five in a row to secure the No. 7 seed and set up their date with the No. 2 Spurs.

However, during that final postseason push, Kobe Bryant went out with an Achilles tear in his left foot, requiring surgery that will sideline him for six to nine months.

Can the Bryant-less Lakers upset a Spurs team that finished with the second-best record in the West and third-best record in the entire league?

Here are 10 things to think about heading into the series to determine just how realistic a possibility that is.

1. San Antonio's home-court advantage

Even though the Spurs looked somewhat ripe for the picking, having gone 3-7 over their final 10 games of the regular season, remember that the series opens up at the AT&T Center, where they went 35-6 this season. Meanwhile, the Lakers were just 16-25 away from Staples Center. It will be a major challenge for L.A. to bring the series back home with a split after the first two games in San Antonio.

2. Hamstrings

Definitely the body part that could have the biggest impact on the series for both teams. Steve Nash plans to play in Game 1 after missing the Lakers' last eight games because of a bum right hamstring, hip and lower back. Manu Ginobili only played one game in April -- an uninspiring 12 minutes in the season finale -- because of his own right hamstring injury. If Ginobili is healthy, he could have a field day carving up the Lakers' perimeter defense that is missing Bryant and has a hobbled Metta World Peace out there still less than a month removed from knee surgery. If Nash is healthy, L.A. gets another elite shooter to help open up the floor so Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol have more room to operate down low.

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LOS ANGELES -- It figured to be an emotional night in the first Los Angeles Lakers game since Kobe Bryant went out with that devastating season-ending Achilles tear. And L.A. used the charged atmosphere to its advantage.

Here's a look back at L.A.'s game No. 81 of the season and game No. 1 without Kobe, where the Lakers improved to 44-37, the most games above .500 they've been all season:

How it happened: L.A. controlled the game from the tip and withstood the Hack-a-Howard strategy by the San Antonio Spurs in the third quarter to pull ahead in the end, thanks to some timely fourth-quarter buckets by Antawn Jamison and made free throws by Dwight Howard and Steve Blake.

What it means: If the Utah Jazz lose either of their next two games -- at the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday or at the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday -- the Lakers are in the playoffs no matter what happens on Wednesday, when the Lakers host the Houston Rockets in their regular-season finale.

Hits: Howard might have shot just 4-for-11 on free throws in the third quarter, but he was lights out all game for the most part. He clearly wanted to step up in Bryant's absence and finished with 26 points and 17 rebounds, while shooting 9-for-15 from the floor.

Blake scored 23 points, topping the 20-point plateau for just the 17th time of his 10-year career.

Jamison scored nine of his 15 points in the fourth quarter.

Misses: Gasol shot just 3-for-17 from the floor -- but chipped in 16 rebounds.

Stat of the game: The Lakers shot just 31-for-85 from the field (36.5 percent) and still managed to win, holding San Antonio to 37.1 percent shooting overall.

Up next: One game left -- Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. against Houston. Oh boy.

SAN ANTONIO -- Just for a moment, disregard the Los Angeles Lakers' disappointing record and the state of their dilapidated roster.

Imagine you told a Lakers fan before the season started, "Listen, you're going to play the San Antonio Spurs on the second night of a road back-to-back in early January. The Spurs will be riding a 10-game home winning streak at the time. The Lakers will hold San Antonio to just five points in the last six and a half minutes and will have five chances to tie it in the final 1:40 of the game with a 3-pointer."

What reasonable fan wouldn't accept that scenario? Sure, there were some immensely heightened expectations before the year began, but even the fan who in October was already eyeing spots along Figueroa Street to set up his lawn chair for the parade could rationalize that having five chances to tie up the perennially tough Spurs in the final two minutes on the second night of a back-to-back would be a pretty good deal to take.

Now, snap back to reality. The Lakers are 15-20. They've lost five games in a row after Wednesday's 108-105 loss to the Spurs. They are going to be without both Dwight Howard and Jordan Hill for at least the next two games against Oklahoma City and Cleveland and they could continue to be without Pau Gasol indefinitely if he doesn't pass his concussion test Thursday.

Even if L.A. had those players healthy and came into the AT&T Center riding a four-game winning streak rather than a four-game losing streak, there was no guarantee they would win. Given their current state of affairs, it was about as un-winnable a game as any. Not only did the Spurs come in tied with Oklahoma City for the most wins in the league with 27, they were also coming off an embarrassing road loss to the severely sub-.500 New Orleans Hornets so they had all the motivation necessary not to want to take one on the chin from the sub-.500 Lakers.

Rather than succumb to the reality, the Lakers just decided to give it a go.

"We played very hard and I think we figured a few things out," Kobe Bryant said after he turned around his own game with 19 second-half points after scoring only eight in the first half. "We still have to straighten some things out on the defensive end, but I feel like we competed and that was very important."

That they do. A night after Houston torched the Lakers by going 11-for-25 on 3-pointers, the Spurs did one better, going 12-for-25. A night after relinquishing 125 points to the Rockets, the Lakers still gave up 108 to the Spurs -- accounting for the eighth time in the last 10 games their opponent had gone for 100 points or more.

Yet, the Lakers' defense managed to show up in spurts. When they fell behind by eight in the first quarter, they clawed their way back to within four. When the lead swelled to 11 in the second quarter, they got it back down to three. When the Spurs pushed it to 17 in the third quarter, L.A. got it back down to eight. And when San Antonio had them by the throat, up by 16 with 7:07 to go in the fourth quarter, the Lakers forged that improbable rally on the strength of their defense that gave them a chance to tie it in the end.

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SAN ANTONIO -- Talk about a tall task.

What business did the Los Angeles Lakers have coming into San Antonio on the second night of a back-to-back, in the midst of a four-game losing streak and playing against a Spurs team that had won 10 in a row at home, and expecting to win?

Turns out, they didn't.

But on a night when the odds were stacked against them, the Lakers showed that the fight hasn't been beaten out of them just yet in this turbulent season. They might be a team going through some major struggles, but they were indeed a true team Wednesday.

More of that, and they soon could be a team that actually wins some games.

How it happened: The Lakers fell down by eight in the first quarter and chipped away. Then it was 11 in the second, and they chipped away again. Then all the way to 17 in the third, but they still kept at it. The Spurs had it back to a 16-point lead with 7:07 to go in the fourth before the Lakers staged a furious rally, getting it down to three with 2:56 remaining. After a series of missed opportunities, the Lakers trailed by three and had the ball with 10.4 seconds left with a chance to tie it. Kobe Bryant missed long, Earl Clark grabbed the rebound and missed short, and the Lakers lost yet again.

What it means: If the Lakers consistently play as hard as they did in the fourth quarter for 48 minutes when they get Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Jordan Hill back, they will actually have a shot at making the postseason. Then again, a loss is a loss, and the Lakers' hole only got deeper Wednesday. There's no time left in the season for moral victories.

Hits: Welcome to the rotation, Earl Clark. The fourth-year forward out of Louisville played the best game of his young career. He set personal bests in points (22) and rebounds (13) while being a factor on both ends of the court. It was just the second double-double of his career, and the 3-pointer he hit with 31.7 seconds left to cut the Spurs' lead to three was just the third 3 he has hit in the league. He should have a place moving forward, even when the top dogs return, if he brings that youth, athleticism and shooting ability.

The Lakers had three players score 20 points or more with Bryant (27 points) and Metta World Peace (23) joining Clark.

Misses: A night after the Lakers allowed the Houston Rockets to shoot 11-for-25 on 3-pointers, it got even worse against San Antonio, as the Spurs went 12-for-25 (48 percent) from distance.

Jodie Meeks played just six minutes and went 1-for-3 from the field for two points.

The Lakers have allowed their opponent to score 100 points or more in all five of their consecutive losses.

Stat of the night: Steve Nash (14 points, nine assists) went 2-for-2 from the foul line, inching him further past Mark Price for the best free throw percentage in league history at 2,946-of-3,259 (.90451). Nash surpassed Price (.90351) on Tuesday against Houston. Nash is now a perfect 15-for-15 on free throws this season.

What's next: They might not deserve it, considering they've lost five games in a row, but they certainly could use a day off, so the Lakers will take Thursday to reboot and get away for a bit before Friday's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Being a 15-20 team is hard enough. Being a 15-20 team that's missing three of its big men and having to face the Thunder next is even harder.

Dave McMenamin covers the Lakers for ESPNLosAngeles.com. Follow him on Twitter.

SAN ANTONIO -- Mike D'Antoni is well aware of his sketchy reputation as a coach who either won't or, worse yet, can't get his teams to play defense.

"Maybe he can put the D back in my name," D'Antoni said of Dwight Howard at the coach's introductory news conference after being hired by the Los Angeles Lakers in November. "That would be nice. Some people have been taking that out."

Howard, the former three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, hasn't changed that reputation for D'Antoni just yet.

So far the proof is in the numbers regarding the Lakers' defensive performance with D'Antoni in charge. In five games with former coach Mike Brown this season, the Lakers allowed their opponents to score 98.8 points per game. In five games with interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff, opponents averaged 92.2 points. In 24 games with D'Antoni, opposing teams are putting up a whopping 104 points per game.

Does that number, coupled with the fact that D'Antoni's teams in Phoenix and New York never got enough consistent stops to rank in the top 10 in defensive efficiency, mean that D'Antoni is just incapable of coaching at that end of the court?

Not so, says San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who blamed the media for the guff D'Antoni gets about his teams' defense, or lack thereof.

"I think in this business, it's a small fraternity [in the press] and once you get a reputation for something, it pretty much sticks," Popovich said before the Lakers played the Spurs on Wednesday. "It doesn't matter what you do about it. I think Mike could probably do defensive drills all day long and somebody would still get after him for not caring about defense."

Earlier in the season, a reporter needled D'Antoni about how little time he spends teaching defense following a road loss in Cleveland and D'Antoni shot back, clearly irritated by the insinuation.

"He's probably by now stopped trying to convince people he cares about defense because he's not an idiot," Popovich said. "He knows you have to play defense. People act like he's never heard of the word, doesn't know how to spell it, and nothing could be farther from the truth. But he's wasting his time trying to convince all you guys that he cares about defense because it’s a better story the other way."

Dave McMenamin covers the Lakers for ESPNLosAngeles.com. Follow him on Twitter.

LOS ANGELES -- The history between San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and former Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson is too long and too complicated for a flip answer.

The two coaching lions have battled each other for decades, winning some battles, losing others, trading barbs along the way that only men of their stature could dare say.

So when Popovich heard, like the rest of us, that Jackson might be on his way back to the Lakers sideline he had to smile.

"I did have kind of a strange thought," Popovich said. "I just had this thought that it was like putting the Soviet Union back together again. Let's go get Putin and put it all back together. Because I'm a strange person, that all went through my head."

So if the Lakers are the Soviet Union and Jackson is Putin, what does that make the Spurs?

"We're Ammerrrica," Popovich joked with a funny accent.

Jackson, of course, was passed over by the Lakers for Mike D'Antoni in a stunning move late Sunday night and not in position to fire a barb back across the aisle.

But knowing him, he would've enjoyed the opportunity to do so. Whenever he and Popovich get into it -- whether it be on if the Spurs' title in the lockout-shortened season deserved an asterisk or something lighter, like Jackson's feelings on the charm of San Antonio's River Walk -- it's always entertaining.

Whether there's actual ill-will behind the verbal sparring, one can only guess, but there is definitely a mutual respect.

"We never really knew each other that well at all. We waved to each other before the game, that's all," Popovich said, when asked if his relationship with Jackson extended off the court. "But Phil's Phil. He's the all-time best. What else can you say? He's somebody that commanded a lot of attention and deservedly so."

Well, the Lakers have a new coach in place, but the Bernie Bickerstaff era will not yet go quietly into the night. Happily for those (like me) who enjoy pressers with a hilariously grumpy coach who doesn't hide any disdain for the comical situation he's been put in, Bickerstaff will remain the interim coach for this contest. And while life under Bickerstaff has been fruitful, his double-digit wins have come against the Warriors and Kings, mediocre teams missing several notable names (Andrew Bogut, Brandon Rush, DeMarcus Cousins). The Spurs are far more talented and their roster is fully loaded, which poses a threat to Staples Center's sudden party atmosphere.

For more insight on the Spurs, I conducted an IM conversation with Andrew McNeill from the True Hoop network's 48 Minutes of Hell blog. Below is the transcript.

Andy Kamenetzky: So far, the Spurs have remained, like the Terminator and cockroaches, impossible to kill. How are they making it happen this time around?

Andrew McNeill: A number of things. Good health (so far, fingers crossed). They've got a deep roster that has a number of players who can step up any night. Gary Neal had a career high in scoring against the Blazers on Saturday night, for example. Also, magic.

AK: Just like Gob in "Arrested Development," which reminds me of a brilliant Photoshop sight gag involving Tim Duncan! Speaking of The Big Fundamental, he's putting up some of his best numbers in recent years, and without much of an uptick in minutes. Could this be shaping into a memorable season for Timmy?

AM: It could. I believe pretty strongly his numbers are going to drop off soon, closer to those of last season, mainly because his minutes should drop. But his per-36 minute numbers never change because of Duncan's consistency (and the aforementioned magic). Some have suggested that instead of playing Duncan fewer minutes per game, Gregg Popovich should instead play Duncan heavier minutes and sit him out of more games completely. It's definitely more extreme, but the biggest problem against the Thunder last season was that Duncan couldn't play 40-plus minutes on defense. Once Duncan was out of the game, the Spurs lost their best interior defender.

AK: How do you expect San Antonio's front line to deal with Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard?

AM: There's no question the Spurs have had trouble with Andrew Bynum in the past, and now Howard. Amazingly, though, I think they're a little better equipped with Boris Diaw alongside Duncan. Matt Bonner and DeJuan Blair really struggle with bigger players, but Diaw uses his -- ahem -- frame well. The more minutes Duncan, Diaw and Tiago Splitter occupy at the two big positions, the better the Spurs will be. Pop has played Duncan and Splitter together some in this early season, which isn't something he's done a lot of the past two seasons. He'll never admit it, but it could be with the idea of playing them together against bigger front lines like the Lakers.

So the Lakers now have Mike D'Antoni. Are they really equipped to be playing his style of ball, outside of Steve Nash?

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For the past several seasons, the San Antonio Spurs have served as basketball's version of Jason Voorhees: They cannot be killed. Since about 2008, fans and media (I've been as guilty as anybody) have cited their long teeth, declining athleticism and rising competition as reasons to declare the end of an era. But the Spurs refused to fade into the sunset, having finished consecutive regular seasons with the West's best record. Yes, the ensuing postseasons were anti-climactic, but either way, the message was made clear: The Spurs are still formidable. The Lakers learned that lesson as well as any team last season, losing twice to San Antonio -- home and away, with and without Kobe Bryant -- by 20+ points.

But this off-season it appears the scales have been tilted towards Los Angeles. For some perspective on how the new-look Lakers appear from San Antonio, we talked via email with Tim Varner from the True Hoop network's 48 Minutes of Hell blog.

Land O' Lakers: What was the general reaction in the 48 Minutes of Hell-osphere when word broke that Howard was heading to the Lakers?

Timothy Varner: In general, we recognize that it puts the Spurs behind the Thunder and the Lakers in the West. Even worse, the Nuggets improved themselves as well. The Spurs could be fourth in the West.

LOL: But aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln . . .

TV: The worst part about the Howard trade is the Spurs' weaknesses along the front line. The Lakers not only improved themselves, they did so in a way that exploits one of San Antonio's roster deficiencies.

LOL: How much can someone like a (theoretically) improved Tiago Splitter help? And I guess this might actually keep DeJuan Blair in town.

TV: I don't think either player helps, unfortunately. Splitter does not do well against Howard, and Blair will be traded as soon as the Spurs find a good partner. He's an especially awful matchup against Howard and Gasol. Splitter, I should also note, is an expiring contract with good value whom San Antonio may not be able to afford next season. So, somewhat counter-intuitively, Howard could force the Spurs to move Splitter for a roster upgrade at another position.

LOL: On the plus side, nobody will mind if Boris Diaw packs those pounds back on. It might be necessary.

TV: True, but within the Spurs' offense, Diaw is more of a passer for the p-and-r than a post player. So even his re-signing tilts away from bolstering the frontcourt in the sense of matching bodies with bodies.

LOL: That's too bad, because there's always a 50/50 chance Diaw will be wearing a "bro" to begin the season. The weight might as well provide some utility.

TV: I suspect the Spurs understand they can't match Howard and Gasol, so they will look to beat the Lakers in other ways.

LOL: Run them off the court, I assume? Or pick-and-roll them to death? Last season, Manu Ginobli and especially Tony Parker dizzied the Lakers with multiple pick-and-roll sets, often within the same possession.

TV: That's right. Pace and p-and-r are better options for San Antonio than adding more (seemingly useless) bodies to the front court. Look at what the Spurs have done this off-season. They added Nado De Colo, re-signed Patty Mills (high pace point with range) re-signed Danny Green, and concentrated on the development of Kawhi Leonard and Cory Joseph. Those are all moves with San Antonio's offensive attack in mind, especially as it originates from the back court.

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The Lakers were bounced in the second round by Oklahoma City, but that doesn't mean they can't learn a few things from the sidelines. In the newest edition of The Forum, Dave McMenamin joins in, talking about lessons the Lakers can take from the four squads still alive in the NBA title hunt.

Plus, we make our predictions on who wins the Larry O'Brien.

As the popular saying goes, timing is everything. When we recorded this podcast Friday afternoon ahead of the impending blowout loss to the Spurs, the Lakers looked, generally speaking, like a team trending in the right direction with the postseason on the horizon. Then came San Antonio's blistering 61 percent clip from the field, which actually/improbably built on Tuesday's 60 percent at Staples, and the Lakers suddenly look considerably more vulnerable. But either way, the questions we examined remain trenchant and relevant, if perhaps more urgent than just 24 hours ago.

Again, timing is everything.

The show can be heard by clicking the module, and a breakdown of talking points is below:





- (3:03): With the playoffs approaching, we create a checklist of pressing needs as the Lakers attempt to make a deep run. They include sustained impact from Andrew Bynum and Metta World Peace, team defense, and Ramon Sessions' poise during his first foray into the playoffs.

- (13:00): We debate the importance of the bench's (and in particular, Steve Blake's) production, given the inevitability of increased minutes for the starters.

- (17:05): In both of our minds, no player will make or break the Lakers' playoff run more than Bynum. How confident are we about this reality?

- (18:20): If you believe the Lakers are on a better path than 1-2 months ago, how much credit does Mike Brown deserve?

- (25:40): I make a throwaway joke referencing a semi-obscure bubble gum pop from the 70's... which Brian misinterprets as a joke referencing this better known song by Barry Manilow Neil Diamond... which leads to us doing Neil Diamond impressions. That's just how the K Brothers roll.

On the plus side, Kobe Bryant returned to the court and didn't re-injure his shin. From there, positives are pretty much exhausted. The Spurs absolutely shredded the Lakers in every facet of the game, but especially defensively. The Lakers couldn't stop the Spurs in transition. They couldn't stop the Spurs at the 3-point line. They couldn't stop pick-and-pop/roll. They couldn't stop baskets in the paint. And they absolutely couldn't stop Tony Parker, who encored Tuesday's 29 point/13 assist performance in L.A. with 20 points and 10 dimes in under 30 minutes.

That Mamba-less blowout win on April 11 feels like 100 years ago, now.

We talk about the defensive failings, a poor night for Ramon Sessions, and more in Friday's edition of LLN.