L.A. Lakers at San Antonio Spurs Betting Preview

Opening Line: Lakers NL / Spurs NL O/U NL

Time: 8:30 PM EST Tuesday January 12, 2010

This season the Spurs are 16-6 at home and 18-16-1 ATS and the Lakers are 8-5 on the road and 16-21 ATS.

Tonight the San Antonio Spurs host the L.A. Lakers, who look to avoid their first 4-game road losing streak in 3 years. The Lakers are 6-4 in their last 10 games and lead the Pacific Division by 5.5 games and the Spurs are also coming off a win, are 7-3 in their last 10 games, and are in second place in the Southwest Division only 2 games back of the Dallas Mavericks.

In their last game the Lakers laid a beat down on the Milwaukee Bucks beating them 95-77 on Saturday and the Spurs beat the New Jersey Nets 97-85 also on Saturday.

Kobe Bryant has been struggling lately, as in the Lakers last game, which they won, he was only 4/21 for 12 points and in his last 4 games he is only shooting 33.3% from the field. However, in his last 7 games in San Antonio he has averaged 27.3 ppg on 51% shooting.

Kobe may need to break out of his shooting slump tonight, as the Lakers may have to go without Pau Gasol for the 5th straight game due to a hamstring injury. Andrew Bynum has played well in Gasol's absence, as in those 5 games the 7-foot Spaniard has missed the Lakers' C has averaged 17.3 ppg 13 rpg. Bynum will not only be counted on to take up the scoring slack and rebound, but also play good inside defense on Tim Duncan, who leads the Spurs in both scoring (20 ppg) and rebounding (10.4 rpg).

The Spurs are playing well, but they have not done so against teams that are leading their division only going 1-5 this season. 4 of San Antonio's last 5 wins have come against teams that are under .500.

The Spurs rank 5th in the league in points allowed and they will have to play solid defense against the Lakers, who rank 5th in the league in points scored.

For the Spurs to win they will need Tony Parker (16.5 ppg) and Richard Jefferson (13.2 ppg) to play well, as if they can score and hit their outside shots it will open up the inside for Duncan to work his magic.

The Spurs do not have a lot of inside presence and, besides Kobe, their main concern is containing Bynum and not letting the legit 7-footer to have a big game scoring and on the glass. DeJuan Blair and Tim Duncan will have that responsibility tonight, but it will not be easy, as Duncan is not a spring chicken anymore and Blair gives up 5 inches to Bynum.

L.A. is 4-9 ATS in their last 13 road games, and 3-8 ATS in their last 11 against teams in the Western Conference. San Antonio is 6-1-1 ATS in their last 8 against teams in the Pacific Division, 3-11 ATS in their last 14 home games against teams with a winning road record.


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