The 31-6 Lakers remain on the road for the second stop on their ‘Texas two-step” a match up with the San Antonio Spurs.
The Lakers made the 45 minute flight after beating the Rockets. TNT has a TV show named ‘The Closer’, but it is also yet another name that can be added to the long list of names for Kobe Bryant.He scored 13 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter and once again ruined the Rockets upset bid last night with a shot that can only be described as ‘unbelievable’.
He is simply the best closer in the game. As nice as it was to see the Lakers had a bad shooting game without a good scoring run, except for Trevor Ariza who played lights out. Also, Lamar Odom returned and his contribution were huge. The Rockets fought Los Angeles to the wire.
The Lakers outplayed the short-handed Rockets down the stretch, survived the Von Wafer (a career-high 23 points) & Carl Landry (a season-high 21 points) onslaught and outscored them in the fourth quarter.
Tonight the Lakers face their old rivals the Spurs, the team they beat in the Western Conference Finals. Their season series begins tonight; both teams have ruled the West for most of the last decade, combining for 9 of the last 10 conference titles and seven league Championships.
The Lakers have won their last 4 games and 10 of their last 11, averaging 108.5 points in that span with Kobe averaging more than 30 points per game. Slowing Tony Parker will be a team effort. Manu Ginobli missed a lot of time last season and has struggled to get on track this season he’s shooting a career-worst 33.3 percent from 3-point range and averaging 14.5 points.
The home team won all four of the match ups in 2007-2008. The Spurs will lean on Tim Duncan who has a career average of 23 points and 12.8 rebounds in 68 career games against the Lakers.
The Spurs are a solid defensive team but the Lakers need to throw the ball into the low post and allow Andrew Bynum & Pau Gasol to go to work.
The Lakers defense needs to improve. The team has an advantage with their long front line and will win by controlling the tempo, glass, stopping dribble penetration and rotating out to three point shooters.
Tipoff: 6:00 PM PST
Television -
- Los Angeles: KCAL HD (Joel Myers & Stu Lantz)
- San Antonio: ESPN HD, KENS HD (Bill Land & Sean Elliott)
Radio -
- Los Angeles: AM570 KLAC (Spero Dedes & Mychal Thompson)
- San Antonio: WOAI 1200 AM (Bill Schoening)
Injuries -
Lakers:
- Jordan Farmar (Knee)
- Luke Walton (Foot)
- Sasha Vujacic (Back Spasms)
Spurs:
None to report.
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