I had a ridiculously hard time with the Lakers, in a way. Had two or three really close losses that drove me crazy and then played stupid and lost two or three by big margins.
Then won by a big margin. For me, against the Lakers, the key was defense. Controlling my PF on D and just letting Julius Randle go wherever the hell he wanted to go and only bothering to guard him if he cut into the paint.
That and being very careful not to hard hedge on the PnR, because the CPU is really good at passing to the roll man and with the slow, ****ty centers that one has with a newbie lineup, it's really hard to make up ground. Hibbert was dunking all over me until I soft hedged and, better yet, didn't control my Center.
Otherwise, on D, make sure to pay more attention to sticking to Nick Young who is they guy who'll hurt you the most from outside. Aside from that, however, just defend the paint.
And, in general, Fast Breaks are the easiest way to score, so try to make sure your wings are fast and have decent Driving Layup ratings. Beyond that, with **** cards, I think the most reliable way to score is the old-fashioned way: learn plays. Preferably ones that create mid-range opportunities since most of the guys will have ****ty post games and will be unreliable from 3.