Top Sportsbooks

SPURS AT LAKERS

Throughout NBA history there have been rivalries that stay heated by fans and players for quite some time. Back in the day it used to be the Boston Celtics vs. the Los Angeles Lakers and just recently that rivalry has been reborn with last year’s NBA Finals. In the East there used to be some really heated showdowns between Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls and both the Detroit Pistons and the New York Knicks. In today’s NBA you really don’t see heated rivalries that often anymore, but occasionally there are some pretty good ones!

When the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers go head to head, no matter how well either team is playing at that time during the season there is always a playoff atmosphere with both squad wants to tear each other part because the pain of losing to one another is just too much to bear.

Both of these teams have burned each other on several occasions in the past. The most famous of which has to be the .04 game winning shot by Lakers point guard Derek Fisher in the playoffs in San Antonio. The shot was so amazing in a game filled back and forth battles that it will go down as one of the best clutch shots of all time. I still can’t believe it after watching it live and it happened way back in 2004.

That is just what you can expect in when the Spurs take on the Lakers, last second shots and a playoff atmosphere like no other in an NBA regular season game. In their last meeting about a week ago the same kind of intensity was displayed by both teams who had no intentions of losing when the game was on the line. Kobe Bryant hit a clutch three pointer which only seconds remaining and the game seemed to be in the bag for the Lakers, but that was far from the truth with the Spurs getting one last possession.

Only a few ticks left on the clock and an unlikely hero was born when the Spurs Roger Mason got fouled on a made shot near the three point line by whom else, but Spurs killer Derek Fisher. Mason went to the line and sealed the deal for the Spurs heating this rivalry up to a boiling point.

That loss was the first of two in row by the Los Angeles Lakers as they dropped another close one at home to the much improved Orlando Magic team lead by Dwight Howard. The Lakers did manage to rebound rather quickly by beating LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers pretty convincingly to end their two game skid. Since then the Lakers have been on somewhat of tear by winning three straight headed into their rematch with the Spurs in Los Angeles.

If this game is anything like the last one we are all in for a great game at the Staples Center! The Spurs are a solid team as usual this season, but Kobe Bryant and the Lakers are rolling and quite possibly the best team in the NBA right now. Unless Kobe’s finger starts really bothering the reigning NBA MVP enough to affect his play the Lakers should get a victory on Sunday in LA.