The Los Angeles Lakers will watch the rest of the 2013 NBA playoffs from home after being swept on Sunday.
Los Angeles lost four straight games to the San Antonio Spurs, concluding their tumultuous season in an 103-82 loss. Tony Parker recorded 23 points to lead the Spurs past an injury-depleted Lakers team.
"Obviously, it wasn't a fair fight," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich told reporters. "When you're a competitor, you want to compete on an even basis, and the Lakers weren't able to do that."
The Lakers played in Game 4 without much of their core. Steve Nash, Metta World Peace, Steve Blake and Jodie Meeks all missed the game. Dwight Howard played just 21 minutes before getting ejected in the third quarter for arguing with officials.
"I hate it for him," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said. "He gets banged up so much in there that I'm sure he didn't mean to [get ejected], but he takes a pounding, and after a while, I geuss his nerves were shot."
The season for the Lakers was anything but storybook after acquiring superstars Howard and Nash over the summer.
"[This season was] like a nightmare," Howard told reportes after the game. "It's like a bad dream, and we just couldn't wake up from it. That's what it felt like."
The Lakers struggled all season just to reach the playoffs. They eventually lost All-Star Kobe Bryant in April to a torn Achilles tendon. San Antonio decidedly handled Los Angeles throughout the series and, for the second time in three years, Los Angeles will go home after getting swept in the postseason.
"I'm proud of them, because they fought," D'Antoni said. "It was kind of a year that was all upside-down, but I appreciate the effort to get us into the playoffs. We just didn't have it."
The biggest questions for the Lakers going into the offseason are whether Bryant and Howard will return. Bryant, 34, will face an uphill battle to recover from his torn Achilles tendon. Howard, a free agent in the summer, will have to decide if he wants to re-sign with Los Angeles after a disastrous first season.