San Antonio Spurs vs Los Angeles Lakers Pick and Preview
Spurs (27-13) at Lakers (32-8) – Sunday Jan. 25th, 3:30pm est. ABC
Sunday's game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers will feature the two teams with the best records in the NBA's Western Conference. However, most fans probably won't realize it, primarily because the Lakers have been so much better than every other Western Conference team so far this season, leaving the second-place team as an afterthought.
However, if San Antonio can pull off a second win against the Lakers in a 12-day span, fans will definitely begin taking notice of the team with the second-best record.
ABC will televise the Spurs-Lakers game Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern from Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Season Results: The Lakers jumped to a 7-0 record this season, and they've never looked back, building a lead of five games in the race for the best record in the Western Conference. However, the Lakers suffered back-to-back losses last week for only the second time all season, including a 112-111 loss at San Antonio on Jan. 14.
The Spurs started the season slowly, opening 1-4. San Antonio was only one game above .500 on Dec. 2, but the Spurs have rallied from there, putting together win streaks of six, five, and four games. Heading into this week, San Antonio was a season-high 14 games above .500.
After Sunday's game, the Spurs and Lakers will meet once more during the regular season on March 12 in San Antonio.
GET THE BEST LINES AT DIAMOND SPORTSBOOK TO PLACE A BET ON THE SPURS/LAKERS GAME During the first Spurs-Lakers meeting this season, San Antonio's Roger Mason converted a three-point play with 10 seconds remaining to give the Spurs the one-point win. After taking a two-point halftime edge, San Antonio led by as many as 11 points early in the fourth quarter before the Lakers rallied to take a two-point lead on Kobe Bryant's 3-point field goal with 12 seconds left.
Los Angeles is the highest scoring team in the NBA this season, averaging 107.6 points. San Antonio is 21st in scoring at 96.9 points per game. The Spurs are seventh in the league in scoring defense (94.0), while the Lakers defense ranks 19th at 99.2 points per game.
Last Season, the Spurs and Lakers met nine times a year ago, four during the regular season and five in the Western Conference finals, a series the Lakers won 4-games-to-1. During the regular season, the two teams split their four games, leaving the Lakers with the 6-3 edge in the season series. (San Antonio did win five of the nine games ATS.)
Point Spread Records: Entering this week, the Lakers are just 3-5 ATS over their last eight games, although they have won three of their last four games ATS. Los Angeles has lost four of its last five games at home ATS.
The Spurs entered this week having lost four of their last five games ATS. In its last six road games, though, San Antonio is 4-2 ATS.
Los Angeles was a three-point underdog at San Antonio in its 112-111 loss last week.
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