San Antonio Spurs @ LA Lakers Preview

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<font color="Black">San Antonio Spurs</font> (1-0) @ <font color="Purple">Los Angeles Lakers </font> (1-1)

Friday, November 4th
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Los Angeles
TV: FSN, ESPN

Previous Games:
Kings @ Spurs 101-85 W
Lakers @ Jazz 104-78 L

Projected Starting Lineups
SPURS

<font size="1">(Greg Popovich)</font>

<font size="1">(Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Bruce Bowen, Tim Duncan, Rasho Nesterovic)</font>
<font size="4">VS</font>
LAKERS

<font size="1">(Rudy Tomjanovich)</font>

<font size="1">(Chucky Atkins, Kobe Bryant, Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, Chris Mihm)</font>

Factors off the Bench

<font size="1">(Brent Barry, Jumaine Jones)</font>

Game MVPs

<font size="1">(Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant)</font></div>

Brandon's Analysis
Expect the Spurs to walk onto the court with a lot of confidence, while the Lakers are looking for something to prove after their disaster in Utah on Wednesday.

Manu should have a huge game, partially because of the matchup problems that will occur, freeing him up for easy jumpers. Parker will have a great game against a slower Atkins, and a less-defensive Brown.

Duncan should pull down more than 10 boards in this game against a so-far disappointing Lamar Odom, while Rasho finds Mihm to be a little tougher than expected, bringing in Malik Rose for 20 minutes or so against Mihm and possibly Grant (if his knee isn't bothering him).

For the win, the Lakers are going to have to do two important things: pass the ball, and crash the boards. Obviously, a third would be to hit shots, but that's usually always an offensive "must" when playing a team like San Antonio, who has no problem trading shot for shot down the stretch.

Brandon's Prediction
As much as I'd like to see the Lakers win this one easily, they'll have to fight for it. I won't make the call for who hits the jumper in the final seconds, but I can imagine who'd get the nod to take the shot before anyone else. The Lakers are going to have BSPN and many critics trying to humiliate them for their loss against the Jazz, so a determined LA squad will want it more than the overconfident Spurs come Friday night. Lakers take this game, 92-90.

 

As much as i wanna see the Lakers win this game i dont see it happeninng. We need alot of work before facing the Spurs. This game we will loose. No doubt about it.
The loss against the Jazz will be in their mind and that will hurt us alot.
I dont know why Odom isnt playing like he did in Miami. Its like he isnt the same person. He needs to step up but still the Spurs are better

Spurs take this game 88-82.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting theclown1:</div><div class="quote_post">As much as i wanna see the Lakers win this game i dont see it happeninng. We need alot of work before facing the Spurs. This game we will loose. No doubt about it.
The loss against the Jazz will be in their mind and that will hurt us alot.
I dont know why Odom isnt playing like he did in Miami. Its like he isnt the same person. He needs to step up but still the Spurs are better

Spurs take this game 88-82.</div>
Yeah, I had a hard time with my prediction actually...and it's because of Odom. I don't know when I should give up on him, but I just don't want to yet. I think that if Odom can get back into the game defensively, he'll hold Duncan to a 15 or 20-point performance, and that's fine by me. We just can't have Duncan dropping 30 or 40 in this game.

I'd like to say that Grant would be a good person to stick on Timmy...but I don't think his knees would hold up, and he'd find himself trying to get a little too physical because of it, and that means foul trouble.

 

Im just crossing my fingers for a good clean game.

 

Spurs are even deeper than last year. I think they will win by 9.

 

With all this talk about our team losing...is it just me, or does anyone else realize that...

Houston is 0-2
Sacramento is 0-2
Denver is 0-1
Memphis is 0-1
New Orleans is 0-1

<font color="Purple">It's not like we are the only team to lose a game</font>. On top of that, it was against a fresh team, in their opener, at the Delta Center...as a back-to-back game. Everything was against us.

I wouldn't have been surprised if the Spurs lost to them last night, if they were the first on their schedule instead of the Lakers.

Laker fans...let's think positive about this upcoming game against the Spurs. Tim Duncan may seem like our biggest problem, but it's really going to be the shooting of Brent Barry and the penetrations from Ginobili and Parker. I seriously think we should play zone defense. It may seem a little odd, but the Lakers didn't pick up the game fast enough last night. By the time we were hitting (well, when Kobe was hitting) and once we flipped our defensive strategy, it was too late.

Notice that we broke free of our slump in the 3rd quarter. I've got it on tape...we switched to a zone. I think that we'll have trouble playing man against the Spurs, but that's just a gut feeling.

Also, I really really wish we had Vlade at this point. We need him to rack up fouls against guys like Rasho, to keep them out of the game and move Duncan out of position to MAYBE do the same to him.

I'm not going to even try to guess how we're going to stop Parker at the point. If things get bad, we can play Kobe at the one like we had to last night...and it worked well, but we can't do this every game, because he'll eventually be exhausted from chasing speedy PG's all night.

If we make the necessary stops and keep Barry and Ginobili from scoring all night, we can win this game.

 

we need odom and butler or mihm to step up and help kobe to beat spurs. if not, then lakers will have a hard time and lose.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting realdealbneal:</div><div class="quote_post">Laker fans...let's think positive about this upcoming game against the Spurs. Tim Duncan may seem like our biggest problem, but it's really going to be the shooting of Brent Barry and the penetrations from Ginobili and Parker. I seriously think we should play zone defense. It may seem a little odd, but the Lakers didn't pick up the game fast enough last night. By the time we were hitting (well, when Kobe was hitting) and once we flipped our defensive strategy, it was too late.</div>

Tim Duncan we know will get his points with our razor thin frontcourt, but just like you mentioned, containing the productivitys of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Brett Barry. This is why I'm upset with our front office for making all of these transactions in the offseason, and not acquiring a bonafided point guard because the way I see it, it could kill us Friday night. Tony Parker uses his speed and quickness to draw contact and get to the basket, and knocks down his outside shot with consistency and confidence. Gosh, if Gary Payton with his so-called Glove status last year couldn't contain Tony Parker, but instead needed help from his teammates to swarm him everytime he tried to contribute offensively, can we really rely on Chucky Atkins to provide containment on defense? I doubt it.


<div class="quote_poster">Quoting realdealbneal:</div><div class="quote_post">Also, I really really wish we had Vlade at this point. We need him to rack up fouls against guys like Rasho, to keep them out of the game and move Duncan out of position to MAYBE do the same to him.</div>

I don't worry too much about Rasho Nesterovic. He definitely provides the Spurs with a big body in the paint, and fouls to give, from an offensive standpoint, he's not much of a threat. He is one of the softest cupcakes in the game. However, Divac will tremendously be missed to help get Duncan out of position when we bring the double-team help since nobody can play him man to man. Sure Chris Mihm may have the size, but he definitely doesn't have the meat in the interior to put a body on Duncan to at least attempt to slow him down.

With the production of Parker/Barry/Ginobili, all quality outside shooters penetrators, scorers, along with Duncan's predicted 30-20-5, it should be a San Antonio victory by 8. I really feel this Laker team, this early in the season, is trying to recognize themselves still. And I think by the performance we displayed in Utah, we still don't know who we are.

 

This is going to be the Toughest games for Both clubs so far.This is kind of a hard game to predict who will come out on top.but i suspect both teams Defensive styles will clash well together.With Duncan leading the Spurs and Kobe leading the Lakers,this is going to be a explosive game peroid.

 

Obviously the Lakers will have to double team Tim every single offensive play otherwise he will destroy the Laker frontline. The Lakers really need Divac in there to at least throw more than one guy at him. Fact is Tim should have a field day against Mihm, Grant or Odom. Which will create open shots for Manu and Bones to be free. Brent was outstanding last night hitting some big threes to put away the Kings. Saying all that I havn't even mentioned how L.A are going to stop Tony Parker. With Kobe guarded by Bowen It will be very tough for the Lakers to win this one. Although they are at home and have a chance by getting fast break points, otherwise they won't score enough in the half court set.

 

^ Good analysis All-Net. I completely agree. Slim chance for Lakers to win this one.

I'll take the Spurs by 8.

 

The Spurs are even better than last year, and Duncan will have no trouble against Odom, but Odom can put up points against him too.

Parker will play around with Chucky, the Lakers will have to converge on Tim and allow Manu and BB to hit outside shots. Kobe will also have Bowen to worry about on offense, and Mihm won't have it easy against Rasho and Horry.

The Spurs will take this one by 7, they'll win 93-86

 

I'll go here with the Game winner here:

Spurs-90 Lakers-89

This will be a very close game,like i said between the teams here.Both teams will feature a Explosive Defense,and a great running game,but it looks like the Spurs have the edge by a hair.

 

I think the Lakers could pull this one off. However, if they are to do so, they need someone outside of Kobe to make shots. No one last night could hit anything but him. Lamar Odom, in specific, needs to get going. He really needs to step up tomorrow night and have a big game. If the Lakers can get solid production from him and Kobe and get some of the other suppporting cast going, they could win this. But, aside from the question mark of who, outside of Kobe will score, lies a bigger one. Who will stop Duncan? He has the potential to have a field day tomorrow night against that Laker frontline if they're not ready to go. They need to keep at least one body on him at all time, and try to deny him the ball as much as possible. Because, quite frankly, no one that the Lakers have can guard him. No one. It's that simple. They need to double team him when he gets the ball, and attempt to deny him the ball when someone else has it. That's the key to winning right there. If they can hold Duncan to around 20, and make the supporting cast (Manu, Barry, Parker) win the game, they could pull it out. And quite frankly, I'm not going to give a prediction this one, cause I think it could go either way. All I'll say is, hopefully, for the sake of the Lakers, they pull this one out, cause you never want to start off a season with a losing record.

 

I don't see the Lakers winning, but it is very possible.

As much as I want the Lakers to win, I think the Spurs will, probably by low double digits. It all depends on how well we pass and our ability to crash the boards - if our big guys step up then that should help too, especially Lamar Odom.

 

I won't call this game, tho I will say the Spurs have a leading edge over the Lakers. I think it all comes down to one player this game. Lamar Odom. If he shows up and they make him a offensive presence this game, like I think this game they should go out like they did in game one with Mihm, give it to him in the post or high post and try to go inside on the slower Duncan and draw a foul. This I think is the key to this game. If you pull off a play like this at the beggining this will set them out of the game completely.

 

I think that the Spurs will win this game, easily with no hassle. If you look at the matchups, you can see the Spurs are better on both sides of the court. Parker is a terrific passer, and can drive it in with ease. Not only that but he also has great defense. But Atkins seems to have a few problems. Even though his perimiter shot is nice, he can't seem to keep up the speed which Parker is going.

When you look at the shooting guards, some think that Bryant is obviously way better than Ginobili but he's not. Ginobili is known for sticking great defense on players who can make it happen. Expect him to keep Bryant under 25 points.

The small forwards Caron Butler and Bruce Bowen are pretty far apart. Bowen is one of the best defenders in the league, not to mention one of the best three-point shooters too. Butler can score, and has a nice mid-range shot, but expect Bowen to hold him under 10 points.

Lamar Odom or Tim Duncan? Tim Duncan is going to be a MVP candidate once again, and in my opinion, win it. He's not like Garnett who can do almost anything on the court, but he can do things on offense and defense. He has a great close-range jumper with superior footwork making him one of the best power forwards in the history of basketball. Odom has good defense He doesn't get away from picks as easily as Bowen, but he has the strength to get about 10 boards over Duncan in this contest. But Duncan will easily dominate Odom on offense and hold him to about 15 points. Expect Duncan to have another 30-point game.

The centers Rasho Nesterovic or Chris Mihm are not that really of an exciting matchup but will be keys to their team. They need to step it up in this game. Rasho Nesterovic looks like he'll have an edge with Duncan on his side and with the help he will get from him on defense. Mihm doesn't really have starting experience and will slump in this one.

So overall, I think it it will be a blowout. Spurs 101, Lakers 79.

 

I always hate playing the Lakers at their home court because the Refs will always give them all the calls.

but I don't see us(Spurs) losing this one unless we just miss alot of shots.

No one can Play Tim one on one and if they double him this year they have a guy that can shoot it from the outside in Brent Barry.

The same goes for Tony Parker.
You can't say "well put Kobe on Parker "
If that happens who is going to cover Manu Odom or Bulter?
If you say Odom then who is going to box out Tim or Rasho for a rebound
Bulter or Chucky?

I can't wait to see this game.
If the Spurs lose this game it will be because the Spurs lost it.


Spurs 91 Lakers 88

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Oneinpower:</div><div class="quote_post">If the Spurs lose this game it will be because the Spurs lost it.
Spurs 91 Lakers 88</div>
I actually respect that comment. When you say the refs give them all the calls, I don't understand that. I've never blamed anything on bad refs, because if they are "bad"...then both teams would be getting the calls.

Biased refs? I don't believe in a biased ref.

But, like you said...if the Spurs lose, it's because they lost it, and it's the same way with the Lakers, and with all teams.

Hey, at least you're calling a close game. :thumbsup: It'll be fun to watch.