SAN ANTONIO — It was almost 4 a.m. Wednesday when the Lakers arrived at their San Antonio-area hotel, their last two losses exposing some of the worst internal fears of the team.
The way they had played in the second half of losses to Denver and Phoenix had players wondering if all the work the team had put in over the last two months had been worth it — that all the effort and time spent trying to change hadn’t mattered.
When Denver pushed the familiar pressure points, the Lakers crumbled.