Reply With Quote
i get a bad feeling about this game.....spurs lose by 15+ points
San Antonio (29-13) at Los Angeles (34-8) Preview
Game info: 3:30 pm EST Sun Jan 25, 2009
TV: ABC
By Matt Becker
Andrew Bynum has had no trouble overpowering two of the worst teams in the NBA this week. He’ll now try to continue his recent dominance against one of the league’s best as the Pacific Division-leading Los Angeles Lakers host the Southwest Division-leading San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.
Los Angeles (34-8) and San Antonio (29-13) have combined for nine of the last 10 Western Conference les and they are again in the mix for the top seed.
The Lakers, who have a five-game lead atop the West over the second-place Spurs, eliminated San Antonio in five games from last season’s conference finals, and now boast a threat they didn’t even have for that series.
Bynum missed the second half of last season and the playoffs with a left knee injury, but has been a force in the paint lately.
After finishing with a career-high 42 points and 15 rebounds in a 108-97 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday, Bynum had 23 points and 14 boards in Thursday’s 117-97 victory over Washington - the Lakers’ third straight win.
“I’m happy for him. If Andrew can continue to have that type of presence in the middle - no matter who the other team is - we’re going to be a much better team,” Lakers point guard Derek Fisher said. “He seems to just be getting more comfortable on the court, physically.”
Bynum is 25-of-36 from the floor in his last two games, and played just 27 minutes against the Wizards as coach Phil Jackson gave his starters extra rest in the easy win.
“We went through a stretch where teams felt like they could double off Pau (Gasol), but we made them pay,” Kobe Bryant said. “Now they’re trying to do the same thing with Andrew, so we’re making them pay.”
Bynum had 18 points and only three rebounds in the Lakers’ 112-111 road loss to the Spurs on Jan. 14, their first meeting since last season’s playoffs. That is the only game in Bynum’s career Los Angeles has lost when its 7-foot center has scored at least 18 points. The Lakers are 18-1 in such games.
In last week’s meeting, Bryant hit a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left to give the Lakers a two-point lead, but Roger Mason completed a three-point play two seconds later to give San Antonio the lead for good.
Bryant, selected to start in the All-Star game for the 11th consecutive season on Thursday, finished with 29 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds in the loss to the Spurs. He had 11 points, five assists and four rebounds in 28 minutes on Thursday after averaging 23.8 points, 11.3 assists and 9.0 boards in his previous four games, with two triple-doubles.
San Antonio’s Tim Duncan, named to his 10th consecutive All-Star team, had 30 points and 15 rebounds in Friday’s 94-91 win over New Jersey.
Duncan, averaging 28.5 points on 63.9 percent shooting in his last two games, had 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in the win over the Lakers.
The Spurs have won four straight games and now embark on a difficult three-game road trip that also takes them to Utah and Phoenix.
“This is going to be a tough schedule,” said Tony Parker, who had 20 points in the win over Los Angeles last week. “You don’t want to get in that position where you lose the game before the road trip. Now we can focus and have a big game in L.A.”
San Antonio, which has won five of its last six road games, has lost its last five games at Staples Center against the Lakers, including playoffs.
Notes
Spurs:
One day after being named to his 10th All-Star Game, PF Tim Duncan posted 30 points and 15 rebounds to help the Spurs trounce the New Jersey Nets, 94-91, on Friday. Duncan has recorded his seventh straight double-double. ... The Spurs have won 12 straight against the Nets. ... SF Bruce Bowen finished third among Western Conference forwards with 1.39 million votes in the All-Star Game balloting.
Lakers:
With his five assists, G Kobe Bryant snapped a streak of four straight games with at least 10 assists. He had recorded 45 assists in those contests, the best four-game stretch of his career. ... The second of back-to-back games have been kind to the Lakers so far. They are 6-4 in the first and now 8-2 in the second of games on consecutive days. ... With the lead well in hand, all 12 players who suited up saw at least five minutes for Los Angeles. ... The Lakers will attempt to atone for a one-point loss to the San Antonio Spurs on December 14. They host the Spurs on Sunday in their first 12:30 PST start of the season.
Team Stat Leaders
Points
Tim Duncan SA 20.6
Kobe Bryant LAL 26.4
Rebounds
Tim Duncan SA 10.4
Pau Gasol LAL 9.1
Assists
Tony Parker SA 6.6
Kobe Bryant LAL 5.2
Team Comparison
Team Record Standings PF PA Road/Home Streak L10
San Antonio 29-13 1st Southwest / 2nd West 96.9 93.6 Road 12-6 Won 4 8-2
Los Angeles 34-8 1st Pacific / 1st West 107.8 99.1 Home 22-3 Won 3 7-3
i get a bad feeling about this game.....spurs lose by 15+ points
It's gonna be a tough game, that's for sure. But I think it will be close. Within 5 points. I can't predict who will win when it comes to these two teams but I'm obviously hoping for a Spurs win.
As a Laker fan I have much respect for the Spurs...I won't count them out..but I am hoping the Lakers win of course. Good luck tomorrow!
Two things that usually don't help the Spurs: An early game on national TV.
The Lakers are playing well, and they want this one after the one point loss last week. It's going to be a great atmosphere, the Spurs need to play smart and hang close to pull out the win.
Lakers by 17
As a Laker fan I have much respect for the Spurs.
the Spurs...it's on tomorrow biznitches.
Can't wait for tomorrow's game, it's going to be a good one!!
Should be another good game.
If the the Spurs have a good shooting night they can keep it close, otherwise double digit win for LAL.
I don't think the Spurs are playing well enough to get a win at Staples Center. Hope I'm wrong though.
Isn't that pretty interchangeable and overly simplistic? If X team scores the ball they keep it close, if they don't shoot well consistently then it's a big win for Y team.
...I do, however, agree that it always has the makings of a good game when the Spurs v. Lakeshow are involved.
Lakers should probably win on their home court but I don't think it'll be a blowout. I'll be satisfied if the almost-fully-healed Manu makes a complete mockery out of Vujacic the Manu-on-one-wheel-from-last-year-stopper.
It still amazes me how there are legions of Laker fans that actually believe that Sasha can shut him down. Maybe they missed the fact that he needed offseason surgery or that he was even effectively guarded by Stojakovic in the series with the Hornets he was so hobbled.
To think that an all-star who shredded defenses such as the likes of the 2005 Pistons and Team USA for a gold medal while practicing against the likes of Bowen daily could be shut down by Sasha Vujacic is just absurd. But hey, no one ever accused Laker fans of being smart.
What Laker fan ever said Sasha could guard a healthy Manu? More revisionisty history.
Spur fan comes up with the most ridiculous to fuel their Laker hatred.
We need to win this one, no matter how much cost
I don't have a very good feeling about this game. The Spurs typically suck in afternoon games and the Lakers are very good at home. The Spurs also seem to be in a transition phase where they are mostly focused on rediscovering their defense. That doesn't bode well against a team that you must be clicking on all offensive cylinders against.
Hopefully my feeling is wrong . . .
That's why Suns vs. Spurs games are always funny in the afternoon because the Suns suck equally as much in early games. It's always a whichever team makes the last mistake losses contest. Usually each team has around two chances to take control of the game at some point and countless opportunities to make a go ahead basket late in the game.
good test for the spurs' defense. keep the lakers under 95 points and limit their interior production. i can accept a bad shooting night for the spurs but if the lakers go 100+, spurs are not ready to challenge the lakers. defense always wins in the end.
DrHouse,
There were some Lakers fans on the blogs saying that Sasha was the so-called "Manu-stopper!" after that series.
There is some justification from Spurs fans about that and especially when he shot that three-pointer at the end of game 5 when the game was decided!
Hope Manu goes nuts like he did on the Pacers. And hopefully PJ has Bonner checked from the tip, that's one big Bonner will have lured out of the paint. Didn't Pau or Bynum have to come out on him in the 2nd half of the last game?
Timvp,
I understand that feeling and the Lakers will be fired up for this one.
I believe the first quarter will be the key. Sometimes..games can be won in the first quarter instead of the fourth quarter.
I hope the Spurs get off to a good start and that KT plays more minutes in this game. They are going to need his toughness to help TD against Bynum and Gasol in the paint.
San Antonio Spurs at L.A Lakers
NBA Betting Preview
San Antonio Spurs (29-13) at L.A Lakers (34-8)
Betus.com betting line - Lakers -6.5, O/U 203.5
Western Conference powerhouses collide in a big game on Sunday inside the Staples Center in Los Angeles, C.A. The L.A Lakers have the best record in the Western Conference at a mark of 34-8 and have appeared to be the best team in the conference all year. However, the Spurs have rallied from a slow start and they are ready to challenge for Western supremacy. San Antonio already captured a victory over the Lakers a few short weeks ago in an exciting game that went right down to the wire. The Spurs Manu Ginobili knocked down 27 in the contest that lead to San Antonio edged out the Lakers at home 112-111.
Los Angeles leads the NBA as the most potent scoring team in the league averaging 108 points per game. Kobe Bryant ranks 3rd in the NBA in scoring and also had a big game in the last meeting. Bryant’s 29 points, 10 assist, and 7 rebounds were not quite enough last time around. The Lakers also shot a very strong 56% in that meeting, but the Spurs simply edged them out in the end. Los Angeles will look to extract a bit of revenge this time around at home where they always play well. The Lakers are 22-3 inside the Staples Center and also an equal 22-3 against the Western Conference. Last year’s Western Conference match-up heats up again with the possibility of both teams meeting yet again on down the road.
San Antonio got off to a sluggish start, but since has rebounded nicely. San Antonio has knocked off 4 straight wins and also 13 of their past 16 games. Tim Duncan is playing well with a double-double in 7 straight games. Duncan has produced 20.4 points this season along with 10.2 boards. Star guard Tony Parker has produced equal results with 20.4 points exactly while adding 7 assist per game. San Antonio has definitely come on strong in the past month of basketball and they will try to prove they belong among the best in the NBA. However, the task will not come easy considering a win at Los Angeles is hard to come by, but if they do pull off the victory it would make a huge statement for dethroning thee Lakers public perception as the best in the west.
What to watch for…
The Lakers shot 56% and the Spurs shot 57% from the floor in the last meeting in rather of a high scoring game. Los Angeles controlled the tempo despite the Spurs capturing the win. Do not be surprised if this game follows the Spurs tempo a bit more and the scoring is a bit lower. Tim Duncan has 27 double-doubles on the year and don’t be surprised if number 28 comes Sunday. Respectively the Spurs have done better when Duncan has performed well as compared to Tony Parker.
Pick - Lakers too tough at home. Take L.A -6.5
You don't make statements in January let alone the regular season. I highly doubt the Spurs need wins against the Lakers in the regular season for them to believe they can win in the playoffs.However, the task will not come easy considering a win at Los Angeles is hard to come by, but if they do pull off the victory it would make a huge statement for dethroning thee Lakers public perception as the best in the west.
People put way too much stock into these regular season matchups.
. You think any of those trolls actually believe that? They said that to rile you Spur fans up and it clearly worked.
Lakeshow will be pumped...........they will win by 15
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
