NBA Picks: The defending champion San Antonio Spurs are favored on Friday night as they visit the Los Angeles Lakers on ESPN. The Spurs are off to a bit of a slow start this season but they are still miles ahead of the Lakers who are in for a very long season. Let’s look at this Friday night contest and NBA picks.
Early Season Struggles for the Spurs
The defending champs have struggled early in the season for a number of reasons including health. Young star Kawhi Leonard has had trouble with his vision as he has a bad case of conjunctivitis. He is playing through the problem even though it may not be solved for months.
“I can’t sit and wait on the sidelines anymore just wasting games.” Leonard said, “It might not ever clear up until summer so I’m playing now.” Leonard made just 12 of his first 39 shots this season. “Sometimes, things look a little cloudy,” Leonard said. “Not focused.”
Leonard has not been on the floor or fully healthy and he has been joined on the sidelines by center Tiago Splitter, guard Marco Belinelli and point guard Patty Mills. Head coach Gregg Popovich said that the lack of players is part of the problem but not the team’s only issue. “I think that we need to start playing at the same intensity that people bring at us who want to kick our butts,” Popovich said.
Lakers Trying to Stay Positive
The Lakers lost their first five games of the season before finally winning against the Charlotte Hornets. The team hasn’t looked good in most of their losses even though they have a healthy Kobe Bryant. And even though the team is going nowhere with no real chance to make the playoffs, Kobe is not going to be traded. “It’s not going to happen. You go through the good times; you’ve got to go through the bad times.” Bryant said. Kobe was averaging 26.5 points per game this season.
Series Notes
The Spurs have won 8 of the last 10 in this series and gone 6-4 ATS. The teams met four times last season with the Spurs winning three of the four. The Spurs won both of the games in Los Angeles. The Spurs have now won eight of the last 10 in Los Angeles and covered 8 of the 10. Six of the last ten in L.A. have gone under.
NBA Picks
We’ll look for the Lakers to give a great performance and cover the spread against the Spurs on Friday night.
