NBA Basketball
2013-04-21 - LA Lakers at San Antonio Spurs
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States: NBA Basketball Play Offs
Sunday 21 April 2013 - Tip Off 3:30pm
8:30pm (British Time)
Preview
It is always an exciting time when the LA Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs meet in a Play Off series, but there is clearly a different feel to this one in the absence of Kobe Bryant. That means the Lakers are going to have different looks to what the whole League has come to expect of them and it does make the Spurs big favourites to move through to the Semi Finals in the Western Conference.
Even in the absence of Bryant, who was lost for the season when suffering an injury in a win at Portland, the Lakers have come into the Play Offs with some momentum. They have won 5 straight games in the regular season that saw them bypass the Houston Rockets into the Number 7 seed and also hold off the Utah Jazz.
Now they will use Dwight Howard to his strengths while the return of Steve Nash, who is expected to play on Sunday, will give Mike D'Antoni a chance to run something similar to his time with the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns.
The San Antonio Spurs are unconcerned that Bryant is unavailable for the Lakers as they have had to deal with injury concerns of their own. San Antonio appreciate they have to see the Lakers in a different way, but the late regular season loss at the Staples Center would have given them some ideas as to what to expect.
More importantly for the Number 2 seed is the return of Manu Ginobili, the player that runs the second unit, while both Tim Duncan and Tony Parker are available. Parker is another that has been suffering with an injury, but he will be available for this game and will be looking to improve on his 1-10 effort from the field in the recent loss at the Lakers.
Head to Head
San Antonio took the season series 2-1 this season, although there was nothing between the teams in terms of points when combining all three games.
San Antonio have won 2 in a row at home against the Lakers, but Los Angeles are 7-3 against the spread in their last 10 games here.
Prediction
The Lakers put in a huge effort to get into the Play Offs and there is a slight chance that they could just exhale a little as they are finally in the post-season.
That may not bode well against the San Antonio Spurs and I think the home team can pull the win and cover the spread.
The Pick :
San Antonio Spurs 109-97 LA Lakers
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll back the San Antonio Spurs -8.5 Points @ 2.00
