Lakers vs Spurs (4/15/13)

Fresh off the season ending injury to their superstar, Kobe Bryant,  the Lakers had another battle on their hands to prevent their season as a team from ending.  They fought hard throughout and pulled off the 91-86 win over the San Antonio Spurs.

Given little time to mourn the loss of Bryant on Friday night, Dwight Howard said that they would have to rely on their defense.  That's precisely what the team did against the Spurs.  They held the Spurs offense to  just 37% shooting from the field.  That will get it done on most nights.  Most notable was the defense the Lakers played on Tony Parker.  He was held to 4 points on 1/10 shooting from the field.  Steve Blake played scrappy defense on him all night.  He was reaching in, contesting shots, and generally making life hard for Parker, who is trying to recover from injury himself.

The Lakers shot only 37% from the field, but their offensive philosophy was solid.  They went inside all game long to Gasol and Howard in the post.  Each one was taking turns decimating San Antonio's front line, and when the double teams came they kicked it out to the open man.  With Bryant out for the season and Nash still sidelined, that is how they will have to play.  Although Gasol had a poor shooting night, he stuck with it and contributed in other ways.  His 16 rebounds helped the Lakers win the battle of the boards 58-46.  Dwight Howard was in full Superman mode.  He had 26 points, 17 rebounds, and 3 blocks.  After the game he was asked what the Lakers needed to do to make the playoffs.  He replied, "Dominate."  Well done, big man.  Well done.  Seems like Dwight has a little bit of that venom now... ;)

Notables:

The Good:
- The Blake Mamba. 23 points on 50% shooting from Blake.
- Superman getting an edge about him
- Lakers bench gave a nice boost in the 4th
- Won the battle of the boards
- Another crucial win

The Bad:
- 14 turnovers


With 1 game to go in the season it all comes down to this.  One of the following 3 scenarios will happen on Wednesday night:

1) The Lakers can get the No. 7 seed (and No. 2 SAS) by beating Houston on Wednesday.
2) If the Lakers lose to Houston and Utah beats Memphis, L.A. would be out of the playoffs, Utah the 8 seed.
3) If Utah loses to Memphis and LAL lose to Houston, LAL would be the 8 seed and play OKC.

So stay tuned Laker fans.  Just 1 more to go...GO LAKERS!!!