San Antonio Spurs at Los Angeles Lakers
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CAApril 26, 2013, 9:30 PM Spurs Time
TV: ESPN/FSSW - RADIO: 1200 AM WOAI
For years, we Spurs fans have bemoaned the annual appearance of "Playoff Bonner" in April. Yet in the first two games of this series, the Ginger from New Hampshire has confounded fans, Dwight Howard, and Fred by playing inspired ball. Not even an inadvertent elbow to the head can stop the Red Mamba. Who knew that Pop was also "resting" Matty during the regular season? So in honor of the Sandwich Hunter, I am declaring April 26th as
Official PTR Sandwich Day!
Go get yourself one for lunch (or dinner) - just make sure it's worthy of Matt Bonner.
Now the other bench player who's impressed me so far is Cory Joseph. The Canadian has filled the back up poing guard role by doing two simple things: taking care of the ball and playing defense like a rabid dog. The kid has absolutely no fear, and his ability to immediately forget mistakes (cough, bad foul calls, cough) is almost unprecedented for a young player in his first playoff series. Foul on, young man, foul on!
The Spurs are up 2-0 in the series and playing an injury-decimated team. The Purple and Gold are back home and should get a lift from both their fans and epidural shots. The Spurs need to jump on the Lakers right out of the gate, exploiting the speed of Tony Parker and the slashing of Kawhi Leonard. If the starters can punch the accelerator from the get go, the play of the bench (spearheaded by the brilliance of one Manu Ginobili) should be able to maintain that speed against the roster-challenged Lakers. Now is not the time to hit the brakes, guys! I want to see the trend lines on Cam's pretty little graphs zoom upwards.
And the over/under on how many times the cameras pan to Kobe is eleventy billion.
Lineups
Starters |
Lineups
Starters Mike D'Antoni |
Lakers perspective can be found here: Silver Screen and Roll
Game Prediction: Spurs by 7.
As always Tony must dominate Fisher, and NBA league pass is recommended for those who are willing to pony up the cash. Almost every Spurs game will be broadcast there, which is especially helpful for those of us who aren't in the San Antonio area. Please don't post links to illegal game feeds in the game thread. Links to illegal feeds are not permitted on SBNation, but you can probably find them out there on the internets if you're resourceful and desperate.
Get your San Antonio Spurs tickets here!