The 22-27 San Antonio Spurs stay put in the city of Angels to continue their road trip, facing the 37-11 Lakers on the second leg of their visit to the Staples Center at 10:00 p.m. ET on TNT.
For the first time in what feels like forever, the Lakers have a shot to send the Spurs back to San Antonio with a winless record against them for the entire season. The series between these two longtime rivals sees the Lakers at 2-0 against San Antonio on the year and though things always have a way of turning in the right direction for a Gregg Popovich-coached team at this point in the season, an imbalanced roster that’s practically defunct in their second unit’s scoring ability may spell nothing but positives for a Lakers team that’s just looking for a return to normalcy following the passing of NBA legend Kobe Bryant last Sunday.
To do that, however, the Lakers will have to keep their hands up to the left and right hooks the Spurs will continuously swing at them, for the Kawhi-and-Paul George-endowed Clippers needed all four quarters to overcome a resilient San Antonio basketball team. But then again, these are the Western-best Lakers team, packed with LeBron James and the almost-unguardable Anthony Davis who is quickly becoming a confident three-level scorer.
Also, DeMar Derozan isn’t too fond of coming away with positive results when facing a Lebron-led squad, as told by James’s domineering display of decadence against Derozan when the Cavs used to eliminate the Raptors in the playoffs back in the day as if it was second nature.
When looking at this matchup, it’s important to recognize the lengthy and proficient perimeter defenders that the Spurs put on the floor to likely combat the efficient perimeter offense from that of former Spur Danny Green, Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and others. But, the perfect antidote to that kind of defensive coverage is strong dribble penetration and off-ball cuts to the cup, more than likely executed with that LBJ-AD pick and roll that defenders have head-scratchingly failed to wall off all season.
The Lakers are coming off of a somber, two-game stretch that involved a home loss to the Trail Blazers in what was otherwise the most emotional night of the season, and then responded lionheartedly with a redemptive blowout over the Kings just a night later. We’ll see if the King can keep the winning going in the second slot of TNT basketball tonight.
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