San Antonio Spurs at LA Lakers | 2012-04-17 | NBA Basketball | Betting Pick by FirstDown

NBA Basketball

2012-04-17 - San Antonio Spurs at LA Lakers

A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown

San Antonio Spurs @ LA Lakers
United States: NBA Basketball
Tuesday 17 April 2012 - Tip Off 10:30pm ET
3:30am (British Standard Time)

Preview

The LA Lakers (39-22) have not missed their superstar Kobe Bryant as they remain one game ahead of their rivals, the LA Clippers, in the Pacific Division. They will look for their second victory over the San Antonio Spurs (43-16) without Bryant, although the Spurs should be fully motivated for revenge and to get a chokehold on the Number 1 seed in the Western Conference.

San Antonio moved ahead of the Oklahoma City Thunder thanks to a win over the Golden State Warriors while the Thunder were being stifled by the LA Clippers. The Spurs might be one of the older rotations in the NBA, but they found the right balance in resting players throughout the season and have continued to find wins.

Yesterday was no different as they managed to give Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili and extended rest, with none of those players lasting more than 15 minutes. Duncan will be looking for some redemption against the Lakers as he has struggled to 6.5 points and 5.3 rebounds over his last 4 contests against them.

With Bryant expecting to miss this game, San Antonio would do well to remind themselves of last week when they were beaten by the Lakers even though the Black Mamba was on the sidelines. LA lost their first game without Bryant to the Phoenix Suns, but they have won 4 straight coming into this one, including an OT win against Dallas on Sunday night.

Credit has to be given to the likes of Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, who is averaging 22 points per game over the last 5 contests, as both have raised their levels without Bryant in the line up. Metta World Peace is another who has raised his play to cover the absence of Bryant and he scored a season high 26 points in the win at San Antonio last week.

A win for the Spurs today will see them join Oklahoma City for the best road mark in the Western Conference as well as giving them a half game lead for the Number 1 seed as the regular season draws to a close.

Head to Head

The Lakers have now won 3 games in a row against the San Antonio Spurs, both straight up and against the spread, and they have won those games by an average of 13 points per game including the 14 point win last week.

San Antonio lost here when they last visited the Lakers, but had won 2 in a row straight up before that, both times as the underdog.

San Antonio are 4-10 against the spread in the last 14 games in the series.

LA are 15-16 against the spread at home this season, San Antonio are 15-12-2 on the road.

LA are 10-9 against the spread as the underdog, San Antonio are 29-15-3 as the favourite.

Other Interesting Trends

The Lakers are 5-2 against the spread in their last 7 games as the home favourite given between 0.5 and 4.5 points.

However, they are just 2-10 against the spread in their last 12 home games.

They are also just 5-12 against the spread in their last 17 games against teams from the Western Conference.

San Antonio are 12-3-1 against the spread in their last 16 games against a team with a winning record at home.

They are 4-0-1 against the spread in their last 5 games as the road favourite of between 0.5 and 4.5 points.

Prediction

I am going to back the San Antonio Spurs to get a bit of revenge tonight for the following reasons:

First, they have been very good against teams with winning records in the second half of the season, going 7-3 against the spread in those games.

Second, San Antonio are 3-0 against the spread when revenging a home loss against an opponent this season.

Third, the Spurs should be well rested for this game and will have been given a motivational boost with the news that Oklahoma City lost last night and a chance to win the Number 1 seed.

Fourth, the Lakers have covered the absence of Kobe Bryant remarkably well, but this has been a tough run of games for them and fatigue may just catch up on the supporting cast who have played so well in the last week.