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Spurs favored big over Lakers on Friday
By: Freddy Wander - StatFox
Published: 12/12/2014  at  6:46:00 AM
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LOS ANGELES LAKERS (6-16)

at SAN ANTONIO SPURS (16-6)

Tip-off: Friday, 9:35 p.m. ET
Line: San Antonio -12.5, Total: 207

The Lakers attempt to win back-to-back games for the third time this season when they head to Texas Friday night to take on the Spurs.

It is no secret that the Lakers are one of the worst teams in the league right now while losing in seven of their past 10 games SU (3-6-1 ATS) and they usually put up a poor defensive effort. They were able to do better on Tuesday night though, as they defeated the Kings by a score of 98-95 as 3-point favorites at home. It was their fourth straight contest where L.A. shot worse than 42% from the field, but the team turned the ball over just five times in the win and has a mere eight turnovers per game in the past three contests. San Antonio is looking like its usual self by winning despite giving its veterans plenty of rest. The Spurs come into this home game with wins in 11 of their past 13 games (8-5 ATS) while shooting better than 50% from the floor six different times and did so once again in their most recent victory, a 109-95 dismantling of the Knicks. They were 9.5-point favorites at home in the contest with the driving force for the win being forced turnovers (17) as they defeated New York with PG Tony Parker, PF Tim Duncan and SG Manu Ginobili all sitting out. Not surprisingly, the Lakers have been poor on the road this season with a 3-7 SU record (5-5 ATS) while the Spurs are 8-1 SU (4-5 ATS) when at home. These clubs actually split their four games last season (both SU and ATS) while San Antonio grabbed a 93-80 victory as 8-point favorites on the road on Nov. 14 of this season. Neither team shot well in the game, but it was the Spurs ability to hit threes (10-for-23) that gave them the edge in the early-season matchup. Trends show that Los Angeles is 5-1 ATS (83%) after three straight games where it made 42% FG or worse in the past three seasons, while San Antonio is 40-21 ATS (66%) in the same timeframe after two straight games of giving up 10 or more offensive rebounds. On the injury front, SF Wesley Johnson (illness) is listed as questionable for the Lakers, while both PG Tony Parker (hamstring) and SF Kawhi Leonard (hand) are questionable on the Spurs side of the ball.

Can the Lakers keep the score respectable on Friday night? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2014-15 season. While StatFox Forecaster has a stellar 62% ATS record (64-40) in featured games this season, the five experts have also caught fire with a collective 73% ATS mark (37-14) in NBA Best Bets since Nov. 29. StatFox Gary is 9-1 ATS during this timeframe to give him a 64% ATS record (21-12) in NBA Best Bets this season, while StatFox Brian is 10-1 ATS since Nov. 29 to improve to 61% ATS (20-13) in NBA Best Bets this season. Also during this surge, StatFox Dave is 7-3 ATS and StatFox Scott is 7-4 ATS.

It has not been the Lakers’ offense that is losing games for them, as they are dropping 102.3 PPG (11th in league) while playing a fast-paced game, but are hitting just 44% of their shots (9th-worst in league). Meanwhile, it is their defense that has put them at the bottom of the NBA pecking order as they are giving up a league-worst 110.1 PPG on 48.1% shooting (2nd-worst in NBA). SG Kobe Bryant (25.5 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 4.9 APG, 1.3 SPG) has still been one of the league’s best scorers and is coming off a strong effort in the win over Sacramento when he scored 32 points with six assists and two steals. In his 56 career games (51 starts) facing the Spurs, Bryant has averaged 24.1 PPG (43% FG), 5.4 RPG, 4.1 APG and 1.6 SPG. C Jordan Hill (13.0 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 1.0 BPG) started out the season on fire, but has since slowed down and has scored double-digit points just once in his past four games while averaging a mere 5.8 RPG over that time. He only faced San Antonio twice (1 start) last season and did pretty well with 11.5 PPG (56% FG) and 9.0 RPG in just 19.7 MPG. SF Nick Young (14.6 PPG, 2.5 RPG) has been in double-digits for scoring in each of the past eight games while shooting a meager 39% from the floor on the year, and did not do well (11.0 PPG) in two games against the Spurs last season.

San Antonio has been decent on offense this year with 101.3 PPG while shooting its usual high efficiency from the field (46.4% FG). Where the Spurs really excel is on defense, as they currently rank second in the league in scoring defense (94.3 PPG) on 43.8% shooting (7th in NBA). PG Tony Parker (16.6 PPG, 5.5 APG) and SF Kawhi Leonard (14.8 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 2.0 SPG) are the team’s two leading scorers and are both listed as questionable for this contest. Their absence would be a big letdown for the team, as they each scored in double-digits when they faced L.A. earlier in the year. PF Tim Duncan (14.4 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 2.2 BPG) is still a double-double machine and has four such games in his last four times on the court while averaging 16.0 PPG and 12.8 RPG. He put up a double-double (10.5 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 4.0 APG, 1.5 BPG) in his two starts against Los Angeles last season and had 13 points to go with 11 boards when facing them in November. SG Manu Ginobili (11.8 PPG, 4.4 APG) has missed two of the past three contests and was horrible his last time on the court against the Jazz, going a putrid 3-for-17 from the field for 10 points while adding eight assists. He has had the opportunity to match up against the Lakers plenty of times (41 games, 18 starts) in his long career while putting up 14.9 PPG (42% FG), 4.1 RPG, 4.0 APG and 1.5 SPG in those meetings.


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