Tag: Lakers

Spurs to face Lakers this Tuesday

The San Antonio Spurs will are facing a tough week with the surging, well sprouting LA Lakers Tuesday followed up by the seriously surging NY Knicks.

The Lakers are rolling into town with Bernie Bickerstaff as the interim head coach but the world already knows that Mike D’ Antoni has been hired on to replace him once D’ Antoni has fully recovered from  reconstructive knee surgery.

The Spurs (6-1) are coming off a Saturday night 112-109 victory over the Portland Trailblazers where Gary Neal came off the bench to score 27 points (20 in the second half) and the Spurs climbed out from under a 14-point deficit.  Duncan was his usual effective 22 points, nine rebounds self.

”He carried us on his back,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said about Neal. ”Sometimes a player will do that, and he picked a good time for it.”

The Lakers (3-4) are also coming off a victory over the Sacramento Kings 103-90 where Dwight Howard had 23 points and 18 rebounds and Kobe kicked in 20 points all before they knew that Mike D’Antoni was their new leader.

”My job is to coach the team until they ring the bell,” Bickerstaff said. ”But listen. What’s the reality here? I mean, we all know what’s going on and I understand that. But I consented to do this for the organization, and I’m not worried about the big picture.”

Spurs at the Lakers Tuesday night 10:30 pm Eastern Standard time.

Be sure to get your tickets to see the Spurs take on the Knicks at the AT&T Center Thursday night.

Spurs poised to take the title in an “even” year

The Spurs are back.  The best evidence to back up this claim is the lack of media attention the Spurs have been playing through.  No longer are there catcalls that the team is too old to compete.  In fact, this 2011-12 edition of the Spurs are now the 13th oldest team behind such teams as (and in order)

NBA Oldest Teams

  1. Mavericks
  2. Hawks
  3. LA Lakers
  4. Celtics
  5. Suns
  6. Heat
  7. Trailblazers
  8. Magic
  9. Bulls
  10. Clippers
  11. Raptors
  12. Pistons
  13. Spurs

The Spurs are also still being disrespected by the Vegas odds makers who still have them listed at 8/1 to win while the Heat are 9/5, Thunder are 3/1, the Bulls are 15/4, the Lakers 14/1 and the Clippers 20/1.

While the Spurs are indeed younger, this team in this lockout shortened season and their head coach Gregg Popovich are indeed the perfect fit.   Pop has been regulating minutes for his “Big Three” all season and when an 11-game winning streak was on the line, Pop did not hesitate from not playing (heck not even flying them over) the Utah Jazz in Utah.  While some of the Jazz players said they felt “disrespected” by Pop’s move, they have to know that if the “Big Three” had shown up, the Jazz would have been one step further from the playoffs. As it is, they are barely hanging on and the victory over the Spurs kept them alive.  So, Jazz fans do not be miffed that the “Big Three” were held back.   You should be thanking Popovich for the gift.