Los Angeles Lakers vs. San Antonio Spurs Betting Preview
Where: AT&T Center — San Antonio, Texas
When: Thursday, January 12, 2017, 8:30 PM ET
Line: Los Angeles Lakers (+14) vs. San Antonio Spurs (-14); total: 212.0– view all NBA Lines
TV Broadcast: TWSN / FSSW / C+ D
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Betting on the Los Angeles Lakers (15-27)
Point Spread: +14
The Lakers were in position to notch their third win in a row on Tuesday night against Portland, only until they stopped playing together—and defense—in the second half, where they managed just 30 points, including 12 in the third quarter, while the Trail Blazers racked up 53.
That’s been basically the storyline for the purple gold this season, and head coach Luke Walton is probably running out of patience and ideas in fixing what appears to be an unsolvable problem for his young group. Nevertheless, he’ll hope to find answers in tonight’s trip to San Antonio.
LA’s lost its last six games with the Spurs, but this season’s first meeting at Staples Center was a close one. The Lakers almost stole the win thanks to a late fourth-quarter rally ignited by Nick Young, who finished with 22 points at the time. They can’t, however, afford to dig themselves into another deep hole versus a superior San Antonio team that’s 9-1 SU and 8-2 ATS in its last 10 home games.
Aside from being under-matched, the Lakers have their own issues to figure out, such as their aforementioned second-half struggles. They will head into this game averaging nearly 110 points in their last three, while ranking third-worst overall in defensive efficiency.
Betting on the San Antonio Spurs (30-8)
Point Spread: -14
San Antonio had one of those uncharacteristic nights where its defense was as porous as a kitchen strainer.
On Tuesday night, the Spurs ended up losing to a visiting Milwaukee team that mostly played without an under-the-weather Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks shot 52.4 percent collectively, went 10-of-19 from down town and received a surprising, much-needed lift from Michael Beasley, who scored 22 of his team-leading 28 points in the final period.
Kawhi Leonard paced San Antonio with a game-high 30 points, while Tony Parker and Danny Green had 14 apiece. The Spurs were missing LaMarcus Aldridge (stomach virus) in that loss, but he will be available tonight against the Lakers.
Aldridge, along with everybody else, should have an easy time in running their offense against one of the worst defenses in the league. But if the Spurs play defense like the way they did against the Bucks, don’t count out the Lakers’ resiliency and promising young core to keep things interesting down the stretch.
The Spurs are 7-3 SU and ATS in their last 10 games.
Writer’s Prediction
Spurs (-14) should easily win and cover here.
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