The Spurs are in a groove and making a late run up the Western Conference standings. But on Wednesday, they'll have matchup trouble with Kobe and the Lakers.
Our Wednesday night NBA is on the Los Angeles Lakers on the road plus the point over the San Antonio Spurs.
The Spurs are playing their best basketball of this not-so-young season, and from coach Gregg Popovich's perspective, it's "better late than never." They went into Oklahoma City on Monday and upset the Thunder, and that qualified as their biggest win of the year – even more than their 20-point blowout of the Lakers earlier this season.
And that's because San Antonio rebounded from a heartbreaking overtime loss at Philips Arena on Sunday, so they showed a lot of mettle in winning at OKC when playing on the road without rest.
In that 105-85 win for San Antonio at home on Jan. 12, the Spurs didn't have to contend with Pau Gasol at all with Kobe Bryant sat the fourth quarter with back spasms. San Antonio was 3 ½-point chalk in the contest.
But even though the Spurs are finally playing well, they will be without Tony Parker tonight, and his quickness over Derek Fisher was one of the few, if any, matchup advantages the Spurs had over the Lakers.
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Surely, Tim Duncan is, at best, a break-even proposition against Gasol. And San Antone has nobody who can guard either Lamar Odom or Kobe Bryant.
The Lakers' only "negative" in this game is that they might lack the requisite motivation, given they're firmly locked into the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. But Los Angeles generally gets up to play the Spurs, and we'll take L.A. as the small underdog here.
Free Pick: Lakers +1 (-110)