All Lakers Expert Predictions For Second Spurs-LA Clash This Week

Tonight, your Los Angeles Lakers will once again face off on the road against the San Antonio Spurs, as their miniseries concludes. Tipoff is slated for 4:30 p.m. PT.

Here are our expert predictions as we look to answer your burning questions!

Can LA both beat the Spurs and actually cover the game spread this time?

On Wednesday, without LeBron James down the stretch, Los Angeles struggled to close out Victor Wembanyama and co. But the superlative scoring of Anthony Davis through three quarters, coupled with a timely sixth foul and subsequent ejection for Wembanyama, helped LA ultimately seal the 122-119 victory, dropping San Antonio to its 18th straight defeat. The spread is projected at -7.5 in favor of the Lakers, per The Action Network. Assuming James is available (which we don't know for sure as of this writing), Los Angeles should be able to flatten the Spurs.

Will anyone not named Anthony Davis shoot a free throw for LA?

This is a mildly hyperbolic headline, but only slightly. The Lakers shot 17 total free throws on Wednesday against San Antonio, making just 10. Anthony Davis alone went 9-of-12. Only two others, shooting guard Taurean Prince and point guard D'Angelo Russell, got to the line at all. And only Taurean Prince made a foul shot, going 1-of-2. LA survived, albeit just barely, and against probably the second-worst team in the entire NBA. The Lakers will need to clean that up. Obviously a return for LeBron James (who makes 71.5% of his 5.7 free throw tries a night) would help the cause a great deal. I think Darvin Ham will look to get other LA players involved in more plays designed to draw contact.

How can Darvin Ham improve his secondary creators against San Antonio?

The Lakers are too smart to have not noticed their two big deficiencies through their first 25 games of the season: three-point shooting (LA ranks 21st in three-point conversion rate, at 35.2% shooting from deep, and 29th in three-point shot attempts per game, at 29.9 tries) and secondary ball handlers behind LeBron James.

Let's talk about the playmaking.

D'Angelo Russell has been inconsistent, as is his wont, and his lackluster defense has at times made him a matchup headache. Austin Reaves had a rough shooting start to the season, but seemed to improve once he was shifted to a bench role. He should be starting in the stead of Russell, but given Russell's tenuous future with the club, I wonder how long he'll continue to be on the bench. I thought Reaves would be ready to take a major leap this season. So far, that has yet to bear out. The Chicago Bulls' Zach LaVine is incredibly available on the trade market, but general wisdom is that he's fairly overpaid at his current maximum salary, and may be a risky because of his own defensive shortcomings.

Playing against the dregs of the league should be a major opportunity for Reaves and Russell to get some more playmaking reps, especially given that the Spurs only have one true point guard, reserve Tre Jones, in their rotation at all.

LA played through Anthony Davis a lot on Wednesday, and he began to show his limitations in a dicey fourth quarter. These two guards in particular need to step up. Here's hoping Ham employs more pick-and-roll actions with those guards and Davis, and trusts them a bit more with the ball in their hands than he did on Wednesday.

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