Game Preview: San Antonio Spurs at Los Angeles Lakers

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The San Antonio Spurs continue their four game road trip through the NBA’s Pacific Division tonight with a game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The game is scheduled for 9 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN and KENS. The game can also be heard on the radio on WOAI 1200 AM.

How will San Antonio fare against Los Angeles? We take a look at recent history, injuries, and key matchups to predict the outcome of the game!

Also, take a look at Air Alamo’s interview with Ryan Ruocco, who will be calling the game on ESPN today.

Recent Games

San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs head into this game looking to build on their current two game win-streak. The Spurs won their most recent contest against the Warriors on Tuesday, 113-100.

San Antonio will be well rested for this game as the team has not played since that Tuesday night game. This is great news for a Spurs team that is aging and values resting its star players.

Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers come into this game as the Western Conference’s worst team with a 1-7 record. Los Angeles is looking to find a way to break their current two game winless-streak after losing earlier this week to the Memphis Grizzlies and the upstart New Orleans Pelicans.

It will be up to Kobe Bryant once again to try to lead this team to victory. While the rest of the Lakers team has played poorly, Bryant is still putting up the numbers we are accustomed to seeing from him, even following his knee injuries. Kobe is averaging 27.5 points,5.4 rebounds, and 3.6 assists this season. The only knock on Bryant’s game this year is his poor 38.8% shooting percentage, but that’s a result of no one else willing to produce offense.

Injuries

San Antonio Spurs

Marco Belinelli, Shooting Guard – Belinelli suffered a groin injury towards the end of the first quarter in last week’s win over the Atlanta Hawks. He is still expected to miss tonight’s game. Expect his minutes to go to Austin Daye.

Patty Mills, Point Guard – Mills is still healing from surgery on his torn rotator cuff. Expect his minutes to go to Cory Joseph.

Tiago Splitter, Center – Splitter re-aggravated his right calf injury in the game against the Hawks and is expected to miss tonight’s game. He is expected to visit a specialist and remains uncertain for future games.  Look for Boris Diaw and Matt Bonner to pick up his minutes.

Los Angeles Lakers

Wayne Ellington, Shooting Guard – Ellington is out due to personal reasons. Expect his minutes to go the way of Xavier Henry.

Ronnie Price, Point Guard – Price is out due to suspension. The point guard committed a hard flagrant two foul on Austin Rivers in the Lakers loss to the Pelicans on Wednesday. Price is right behind starting point guard Jeremy Lin on the depth chart so look for his minutes to go Jordan Clarkson’s way.

Nick Young, Shooting Guard – Swaggy P continues to be sidelined due to a thumb injury. He will not be on the court for Lakers most likely until their three-game road trip. Expect Wesley Johnson to continue to receive added minutes.

Key Matchups

Tonight’s key matchup between the San Antonio Spus’ Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant might be the only thing to look forward to in a game that is expected to be a blowout. Leonard is an emerging superstar who is known for his Finals MVP winning performance during the Spurs title run while Bryant is one of the best all-time. It will be interesting to see who wins this battle of youth versus experience.

KAWHI LEONARD. SF. Kawhi Leonard comes into this game hot. The star forward has been averaged 22.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in the Spurs back-to-back wins earlier this week. Leonard needs to keep up that solid play if he wants to be considered one of the NBA’s elite players. He will get a good chance to prove he is that company tonight when he matches up against future Hall-of-Famer Kobe Bryant. If Leonard can play Kobe like he played LeBron in the Finals, expect his hype to continue to grow.. SF. San Antonio Spurs

SG. Kobe Bryant has done everything his Lakers team has needed this season and then some. The former MVP is having another great season numbers wise with averages of 27.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.6 assists to start the season. His shooting is suffering, however, due to the offensive load he has had to carry for the team, only a 38.8% shooting mark from the field. Kobe will once again be asked to try to will this team to victory tonight. He will probably end up getting his own but it’s unlikely the Lakers will finish the night victorious. If Bryant want to win games, he will have to continue to motivate players like Jeremy Lin to get the offense going.. SG. Los Angeles Lakers. KOBE BRYANT

Prediction

The San Antonio Spurs keep their winning ways going after a slow start to the season. The Spurs experienced some hot shooting from three in their win against the Warriors and I expect that to carry-over into tonight’s game.

If we are being serious here, the Lakers have a 0% chance of winning this game. Kobe Bryant is good, but even he won’t be able to stop the bleeding that will occur later tonight. (Note: Air Alamo is 4-3 on San Antonio Spurs game predictions)

81. 20. . 103. 29

Next: ESPN's Ryan Ruocco Joins Air Alamo to Talk Spurs Basketball and More