Spurs at Lakers
THE STORY: This figured to be a battle for the top seed in the Western Conference, but San Antonio clinched that last week and the Los Angeles Lakers find themselves hoping to hang on to second when they host the Spurs on Tuesday night. The Lakers have lost five in a row and could tumble as low as fourth in the West if they lose tonight and again in Sacramento on Wednesday. The Spurs could rest some of their starters, and thus are as much as 7-point underdogs to the Lakers.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT, FSW
ABOUT THE LAKERS (55-25): The two-time defending champion Lakers have dropped five consecutive games, their most since losing seven in a row from March 2-15, 2007. “I think we started to look ahead instead of staying in the present,” Lakers guard Derek Fisher said. “This is coming at a bad time for us.” The Lakers did not even conduct a full practice Monday because coach Phil Jackson rested several players. Still, he was mostly satisfied with his team’s performance in a 120-106 loss to Oklahoma City on Sunday. “We have signs that we're starting to recover,” Jackson said. “The ailing patient is starting to recover."
ABOUT THE SPURS (61-19): San Antonio has little reason to get keyed up for this game, having clinched the top spot in the West. The Spurs lead Chicago (60-20) by one game for the overall best record in the NBA and could still go with a regular rotation for much of the game. “We haven’t thought about dealing with it any differently at this point,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “We’ll see as the games approach exactly what we might do.” The Spurs have won four in a row after a season-worst six-game losing streak. Two more victories would guarantee the Spurs home-court advantage throughout the postseason, though if they lose once and Chicago wins out, it’ll come down to a random draw. With victories in their final two games, the Spurs would match the franchise record of 63 victories set in 2005-06.
WHO’S HOT/WHO’S NOT: San Antonio’s Richard Jefferson is 14 of 23 from 3-point territory the past six games. Tim Duncan has scored a total of just 12 points on 5-of-26 shooting in three games against the Lakers this season and Manu Ginobili is shooting just 28.2 percent against the Lakers, but San Antonio has won two of the three games. Kobe Bryant averages 24.3 points against the Spurs in 51 career games and scored 31 in a 99-83 victory March 6.
KEY STATISTIC: The Lakers had just one turnover through three quarters against Oklahoma City but ended up committing nine in the final quarter and were outscored 32-16.
SEASON SERIES: The teams meet for the fourth and final time. San Antonio leads the series 2-1. The Spurs are looking to beat Lakers three times in same season for first time since 2005-06.
KEY INJURIES: SAN ANTONIO: F Antonio McDyess (back); LOS ANGELES: F Devin Ebanks (stress fracture in leg).
LAST WORD: This could be final regular-season meeting between Popovich and Jackson, who says he plans to retire after the season. Jackson (11) and Popovich (4) are the only current coaches in the league to win multiple titles.