Lakers vs Spurs NBA Handicapping
These two teams have been NBA superpowers for most the 21st Century to this point, which is high praise and remarkable consistency for two Western Conference ballclubs. Injuries to the Lakers’s aging trio of stars have seen L.A. finally take a back seat, but those darn Spurs just keep on moseying along in southern Texas. [ad-4468020]
Date/Time: Friday, March 14, 2014, 8:30 pm EST
Venue: AT&T Center, San Antonio TX
Odds: San Antonio -17.5
Odds from Bovada
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The Spurs (48-16) just don’t seem to know how not to win. The trio of Hall of Famer Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili have been doing it for what seems like countless years, and now they are well-supported by other exceptional role players like Kawhi Leonard and guards Danny Green and Patty Mills.
Head coach Gregg Popovich is just unsurpassed in getting 14 guys to buy in and play together as a team. It’s a model that has served hoops fans at The Alamo in good stead.
Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Steve Nash – Los Angeles’s triumvirate of wealthy superstars – have all missed extensive time due to injury this season. It really has thrown the brakes on any hope of success the Lakers had this campaign.
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Wesley Johnson, Jodie Meeks and Kent Bazemore just can’t carry the load like the former three; what makes this worse is that Bryant, Gasol and Nash are all considerably over-the-hill. Drastic change to L.A.’s roster and salary situation should be coming sooner rather than later. The Lakers are coming off a 131-102 drubbing at the hands of Oklahoma City, and sit dead last in the Pacific division.
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The Spurs, meanwhile, occupy the top spot in the Southwest.
Bryant is still an unmatched competitor, Gasol is an able and talented big man and Nash has apparently been dumping tons of effort behind making a return to the league, but; (a) there are still tons of factors up in the air for the Lakers to return to prominence with this cast and (b) none of this does Los Angeles any good at the moment.
For now it’s a retread Gasol trying to keep the ship afloat with a bunch of no-name teammates (even Nick Young, one of the better of the unheralded guys, is out with injury).
The Spurs should be licking their chops at home on Friday night.
San Antonio scores plenty (7th in the Association in PPG), shares the wealth with aplomb (second in the league with almost 25 per) and plays lockdown defense. Gasol vs. Duncan is still a compelling match-up of geriatrics, but everyone else on the Spurs’s roster should out-hustle and out-talent the object of Jack Nicholson’s affection.
Mills, in particular, is taking a larger hand in the scoring of late; the backup PG finished last month with 29 and 25-point outbursts. Having role players assert themselves on a game-to-game basis goes far to take the pressure off Duncan and Parker and leaves everyone with a little more collective gas in the tank. You’d really expect nothing less from a Popovich-coached team.
Knowing the Lakers, they’ll probably be back on top before very long, but it’s safe at this point to say that 2013-14 is not their year.
Despite all the talk about the Heat and the Pacers and the Thunder, however, it could still very much be yet another celebration for the Spurs.
Spurs 116, Lakers 100
