All eyes will be on Luke Walton before the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs tip off Saturday evening in Texas. Rajon Rondo will be returning from his three-game suspension, and everyone will be wondering what that means for a starting lineup that has won two straight and very easily could be on a three-game winning streak.
The last time these two teams played, they went to overtime in what would’ve been a soul-crushing loss no matter how the game ended. San Antonio gave up an eight-point lead with a minute left in regulation, then the Lakers said, “hold my beer” and gave up a late lead in overtime after LeBron James missed two crucial free-throws.
Back to the point guards, though. Lonzo Ball has said all the right things regarding who starts, but the more you think about it, the more disappointing it would be if Walton went away from the second-year lead guard, especially after the way he played late in the Lakers’ win against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday.
Elsewhere on the court, it will be interesting to see if the Lakers made any adjustment to their approach to guarding LaMarcus Aldridge, who dominated the last time these two teams met to the tune of 37 points and 10 rebounds on 13-22 shooting. He got JaVale McGee into foul trouble and out-muscled Johnathan Williams, so we’ll see if the Lakers send more help early in this matchup.
Almost regardless of how we get there, expect a ton of offense in this one. Both teams are in the bottom portion of the league in defensive rating. The final score from earlier in the week was an insane 143-142, which is high even by overtime standards.
Tip-off for this one is 5:30 PM and the game will be televised on Spectrum SportsNet.
Comments
I predict
A win after tripple overtime. Go long like that baseball game.
By PieSquared on 10.27.18 11:10am
Lakers make Svi and JWill sing to Lonzo. Let’s get this W!
By Kilgary on 10.27.18 11:14am
Notice Zubac sitting at the table by himself..
I’ve noticed it seems like no one wants anything to do with him on the team too, sad, even the coaches don’t sit by him. Can they send him to play in the G league at all so at least he’s getting some PT down there?
By FuckTheAngels on 10.27.18 12:44pm
I’m sure the rooks were sitting there before they had to sing HBD to ZO
By Hulian97 on 10.27.18 12:48pm
this is an exaggeration
means nothing.
By The Lakers' Future on 10.27.18 1:32pm
Zu ...
and his accent wldv bn a nice compliment to the rooks singing
By WeBeGroot on 10.27.18 3:57pm
this might be the first ever behind the scenes Lakers video i didn't like
it’s not funny and i mean the players laughing, i found it a bit irritating, lebron if you’re such a big boy go stand there yourself and sing, times like these i really miss Kobe he would’ve not approved this bullshit
By Abdel Riff on 10.27.18 5:36pm
ugh!
just ridiculous. where is this new breed of fandom coming from? Kobe is gone, let it go.
By The Lakers' Future on 10.27.18 6:10pm
Gotta do a better job at containing Aldridge tonight
Defense as a whole looks like it’s been tightening up after the first game against San Antonio. Let’s get this W!
By Chase C. Kimura on 10.27.18 11:42am
The problem is ...
Unless we put Bron on him, we’re not really equipped to slow him down. Altho I’m guessing getting Bron on Aldridge is something Pop wants to see …
By WeBeGroot on 10.27.18 4:01pm
That'd be grootal.
Don’t like Bron lolligagging on D, but don’t want to totally wear him out, either.
By 101halo on 10.27.18 4:12pm
All eyes on Luke
Besides building chemistry and this new team learning each other’s tendencies and how they’re going to gel, there’s coaching.
Read and react offense and switch everything defense sounds great and all, but they have to play to their players strengths with better rotations. Then Luke and his coaching staff need to scheme more plays for his best lineups to play to the strengths that work best for those units.
By Ravinus707 on 10.27.18 12:20pm
i noticed that in our recent victory, Luke put Javale in at the end...
instead of sitting him when we need him most as he did against the Rockets.
I hereby consider this PROOF POSITIVE that:
1. Luke reads SSR, and
2. Luke read my post admonishing him for sitting McGee at the end of the Houston loss.
3. Luke accepts advice from random posters here.
We’re here for you, Luke!
By Hoops Fanatic 4 Life on 10.27.18 2:21pm
Truth
By Smushfor3 on 10.27.18 5:38pm
Let Aldridge score
Zo lock on Derozan and let speed kill Spurs.
By lakervita on 10.27.18 1:29pm
There is no way, ever, that Williams, Kuz or even Lebron should be guarding LMA
You are wasting fouls on key players for him and it serves no purpose other than to sit those players too early in the rotation and as a result leaving a weaker team out there. Especially when you have no BI. Just rotate between JM and Zubac. The most important thing is to not double on LMA, he will get his and second, to stretch JM’s playing time so that he can guard LMA at the end of the game. Let Zubac serve of some use which is to get fouls and just to have a bigger body on LMA. If he scores he scores but at least he doesn’t score while making other players ineffective due to their foul trouble. They should focus on stopping the other guys and letting LMA get his and do their best on him one on one. You are not stopping his fade away.
By The Lakers' Future on 10.27.18 1:38pm
Oddsmakers seem to be giving consideration to the third game in four nights and homecourt advantage.
By Scipiotheyounger on 10.27.18 2:18pm
those crazy oddsmakers might just have a point
By Hoops Fanatic 4 Life on 10.27.18 2:24pm
Oddsmakers that set the odds that way? Wow, where do I find them?
Betting odds pretty much reflect how the public is betting. Now the public might be viewing it that way.
By idahobronc on 10.27.18 5:33pm
Plus ...
On his other teams, either Den or SA wlda bn a rest game for LeBron.
By WeBeGroot on 10.27.18 4:36pm
I'm thankful
That I get to watch the game and then switch over and watch most of the World Series game tonight, too.
By 101halo on 10.27.18 4:08pm
I don’t know if anyone else caught it
But on the pre game show for the World Series they Had Magic Johnson on and were talking about how the commentator crew was responsible for getting LeBron James in the Lakers , then they proceed to show LeBron James Big Papi and Kevin Durant in the Lakers jersey Magic started laughing and said he was probably going to get another fine. I think he might be right lol
By GreatThingsAreHappening on 10.27.18 4:53pm
I hate both the Dodgers and the Red Sox
so I will not be watching the world series.
By Bleeding Halo Red on 10.27.18 5:06pm
And get off your lawn!
By Smushfor3 on 10.27.18 5:44pm
Magic be careful you might get fined again <img src="//fonts.voxmedia.com/emoji/unicode/1f602.png" alt=":joy:" class="emoji">
I want you all to take notice of Magic’s enthusiasm ( i kno he always is but..), he is very confident, and said that he will get a "superstar" not a "star" nor "All Star". Magic already knows something, I’m confident too that KD will be a Laker next season, Lebron is recruiting KD to join him here. For those who doesn’t know, from Lebron’s mouth that he is close with KD, KD will get his 3-peat first ( I’m hoping we can snag it from them this season ), then join Lebron here.
It’s too early but this Magic’s enthusiasm are one of the clues. Let’s focus on this season and get this win over the Spurs.
Go Lakers!
By PuRpL3NGoLdinToKyO on 10.27.18 5:36pm