Game Time: 8:30 PM ET, Monday, March 7th, 2022 

Venue:  AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas

Where to Watch: NBA League Pass

Opening NBA Odds at USA Sportsbooks

DraftKings:  Spread:  Spurs -2.5; O/U 232.5

Fanduel:  Spread:  Spurs -2; O/U 232

BetMGM:  Spread: Spurs -2.5; O/U 232.5

Lakers: 28-35, 9th place Western Conference

Spurs: 24-40, 12th place Western Conference

A Western Conference matchup that desperately needs a time machine!  The Lakers vs Spurs are matchups of NBA legend… all through the late 90’s and early 2000’s this matchup usually determined the winner of the NBA Championship.  The storied franchises won regular season and playoff games and watched each other win a combined 10 NBA Championships over 20 seasons.  LeBron’s Lakers represent the 11th but that would skewer the timeline and ruin the fun.  Lakers fans are in unison that LeBron has ruined the fun in Los Angeles.  Yes, Lebron is the greatest player of all-time.  He is simply better and more durable than Michael Jordan.  Longer career and more total production makes up for the lack of two rings.  People who disagree with this assessment are wrong.  Yet when LeBron came to the Lakers he brought an idea of how his new team should look and he got his way.  The result was one immediate ring… no one noticed the bench and draft picks were empty.  After that first Championship the front office was high on Lebron and his ideas and kept making moves at his command.  This is what happens when you let a longtime former player’s agent become the GM of an NBA basketball team… they move heaven and earth to get the best individual players they can put their hands on… totally ignoring that basketball is a team sport.  The bench gets thinner and the players get more famous regardless of their CURRENT talent.  Also the draft picks all disappear.  There is a line of thought that LeBron would have made the kids he joined, when he joined the team, an NBA dynasty. All they needed to do were small moves.  If you realize that Julius Randle leads an NBA team in Points, assists, rebounds, blocks, and steals… while Brandon Ingram is the best player on another NBA franchise… and Kyle Kuzma is the second best player on another NBA franchise… while Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso are pretty great additions to the Chicago Bulls… all the pieces were there.  The Lakers had everything they needed and draft picks.  The San Antonio Spurs had a trio of players who won multiple Championships together… then they guys got old and retired… what came in their wake was a steady stream of “trying” other NBA stars out in the role of filling spots vacated by Hall Of Famers… LaMarcus Aldridge, Kawhi Leonard and DeMar DeRozan did not fit the Spurs way and are all gone.  The Spurs way is shepherded by the best coach in NBA history… Gregg Popovich.  Pop has gotten very gray… his best years and his ideas about basketball were perfect for a decade ago.  It’s over in San Antonio now… the mindset does not fit players as evidenced by the sudden improvement of the last 4 players to leave via trade.  Pop needs the all-time win record and then he needs to retire.  He was great… The game is shooting 3’s now… the pass, pass, pass, pass, then shoot offense worked a long time ago… Now the workable method is SHOOT… grab a long rebound, SHOOT, get back on D.  There are electric cars now too.

The Los Angeles Lakers are a broken team.  They have only won 3 of their last ten games.  They won their last game against the Golden State Warriors.  The Warriors are also at a season low for wins… except the Warriors are still a top three team in the West.  The Lakers have gone 4-5-1 ATS during that stretch.  They are not currently a great betting opportunity.  Leading Scorer LeBron James keeps pouring in the points at 29.4 per game… an MVP consideration if he weren’t LeBron… seriously Embiid is leading the way with the same points, more rebounds but way less assists.  The problem with the Lakers consistently is that Anthony Davis is hurt. Anthony Davis’s headstone will one day (hopefully 100 years from now) read “Injury List”.  Viewers and talking heads try to place the blame on Russell Westbrook… but Russell’s game made absolutely NO PROMISES of being able to play a team game for the last 14 seasons… then the Lakers traded for him.  Well, either ride him for points or sit him because he doesn’t fit… don't blame him for the losses.

The San Antonio Spurs have a lot of young players and a few pipe dreams.  They have won 4 of their last ten games.  They are on a 4-game losing streak.  They are 4-5-1 ATS during that stretch.  The Spurs have a young star… PG Dejounte Murray… Murray leads the team in points and assists and steals.  Murray took part in all-star weekend and he is a good foundational piece to build a team… but when will the building come?... It should be obvious that Doug McDermott and Zach Collins are not NBA big men… totally obvious!  Center Jacob Poeltl makes Sportscenter highlights when he is being dunked on.  SG Joshua Primo is not Josh Giddey and will never be.. Will he be good?.. Maybe?… but he doesn’t play enough to find out.  The building should start with big moves… and since San Antonio was spoiled by getting Tony Parker at the end of the first round and Ginobili in the second round of the NBA Draft… they might be too spoiled to make the big moves they need to make… Those moves would be to trade away what they don’t want and attach Spurs picks… or build a cache of picks and swap those out… The big swing is needed or San Antonio will be irrelevant for a decade to come…by then Dejounte will be gone.

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The Lakers are 28-35 on the season, but 27-35-1 ATS.  They have logged 34 Overs and 28 Unders with 1 Push.  They are 9-19 on the road.

The Spurs are 24-40 on the season, but 32-31-1 ATS.  They have notched 33 Overs, 29 Unders and 2 Push.  They are 11-19 in home games.

The Lakers are 12th in scoring with 110.6 ppg, 15th in rebounds with 44.5 per game, and 24th in AST/TO ratio with 1.6.  They are dreadful on defense which is a calling card of Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony teams.  They rank 25th while allowing 112.7 ppg from opponents.

The Spurs are 7th in scoring at 112.8 ppg, 10th in rebounds with 45.3 per game, and 1st in AST/TO ratio with 2.2.  On defense they rank 26th while allowing 113.0 ppg from opponents.

Our prediction for Monday, March 7th is….  Spurs 118 - Lakers 115

The Spurs will give the Lakers the blues.  The Spurs are not great but they are a solid team.  The Lakers only seem to win when they exploit a team disadvantage like Draymond Green being out or Utah and New York being unbalanced teams.  Bet on the Spurs.  They should be home underdogs and will give you an easy win on your slate.

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The Lakers are 6-3 ATS versus the Spurs the last 3 seasons.
The Lakers are 4-1 ATS versus Spurs at San Antonio the last 3 seasons.
4 of 5 games in this matchup at San Antonio have gone Under.

Lakers: PF Anthony Davis (ankle) Out ** PG Kendrick Nunn (ankle) Out

Spurs: PF D Cacock (undisclosed) Out

Lakers: PF Stanley Johnson, SF Austin Reeves, C LeBron James, SG Russell Westbrook, PG Malik Monk

Spurs: SF Keldon Johnson, PF Doug McDermott, C Jakob Poeltl, PG Dejounte Murray, SG Devin Vassell

Lakers

Points: LeBron James 29.4

Assists: Russell Westbrook 7.2

Rebounds: Anthony Davis 9.7

Steals: LeBron James 1.5

Blocks: Anthony Davis 2.3

Spurs

Points: Dejounte Murray 20.4

Assists: Dejounte Murray 9.4

Rebounds: Jakob Poeltl 9.1

Steals: Dejounte Murray 2.0

Blocks: Jakob Poeltl 1.8 

Lakers: Frank Vogel

Spurs: Gregg Popovich