Lakers for me. Lakers match up very well against the Spurs. I think that the wild card for the match is going to be Ariza. This guy is the Lakers' best defender apart from Kobe, and has developed a decent jumpshot. The Spurs must shut him down, that is, after shutting down Kobe, Gasol, Odom and Bynum first.

Lakers by 5-10.

Lakers to win. They are hungry this year and clicking as a team.

Spurs are too old and slow now.

Lakers 5-10 point win.


I think they will win the finals this year if Gasol and Bynum are healthy to help compliment Kobe.

Lakers by 5

i was alot more confident today against houston then coming up against spurs the next day!!

kobe must have a good shooting night and then the W is ours!

Anyone know if Sasha will play? We desperately need him without Farmar.

I'm really looking forward to this one.

I'm putting my kiss of death on LA.

They are a strong team and will 'get up' for this game after a lack-luster effort against a weakened Houston yesterday.

Spurs are still rusty and will be happy just to cruise into the finals no matter what pos they finish in. When it comes to the finals, i just don't think they will fear anyone.

The diff for todays game is the decline of Bowen which means they will have to find a new way to guard Kobe.

(I have a theory where coach Pop is really resting Bowen during the season and he'll be back in the starters for the finals- fresh and ready to annoy hell out of every teams best player.)

I think Parker's ability to finish in the paint over Bynum and Gasol is also huge.

Spurs by 8,

Redemption time for last season and game at home. Manu to fire up as his numbers have been down this year because of injuries.

Hey guys- can we get a spoiler put in the title so we can make comments on the game?

Thanks man,

Looks like its gonna be a tight one, though it should be noted, scores are close, but LA is scoring inside while the spurs are scoring from outside...

I think the team that wins the paint has the better chance of winning this type of match so we'll see what happens...

My kiss of death still on LA (Gasol running hot)

close at half in a shoot-out

manu leading all scorers with 19

So much for battle of the D.... 87-95 at the end of the 3rd!

lakers injuries hurt us at times.
-sash missing
-farmar missing
-walton missing

lack alot at point

really thought it was over after the 3 though!!

The best team on the Day won that great game, I am a huge Spurs fan but even if LA was playing another team not mine, Kobe Bryant is the biggest tosser in the league, I can't believe his body language when someone on the Lakers team makes a mistake.

Did Fisher even touch Mason on that last shot?

2 very lucky shots at the end won it for the Spurs

TD's out of control shot with 28 or so seconds and Masons last shot

Lakers need Vujacic back....just to take a bit of the heat off the rest of the backcourt and Kobe

Awesome game, there is always one game on tv in every NBA season that bucks the trend and is extremely entertaining and this was the one.

Unfortunately, the Spurs won because of the refs calling phantom fouls on the Lakers and sending Duncan and ginobili to the line undeservedly. Ginobili's acting and flopping takes so much away from the game, he would be much better to watch and would have more fans if he quit trying to seduce the ref into a call

Posted this in the other game thread but it looks like this is where the action is so...

I feel sick after that.

First, the refs constantly call for Ginobili's blatant flopping, they allow Tim Duncan to call a timeout when he didn't even have possesion of the ball, they give Matt Bonner 6.46 seconds (yep, I timed it) to inbound the ball on their second-to last possesion, and finally, they call a travel on Trevor Ariza's TWO STEPS, while completely ignoring the blocking foul on Manu... costing the Lakers the the game, or at the very least an overtime oppurtunity.

It is so sad that such a brilliant game had to end at the hands of the refs like that and it is a disgrace that such bad officiating can even happen in the best league in the world. That is the first time I have ever seen an NBA match refereed at a standard below that of the Dome.

Disgrace.

And Admiral, I really have no idea wtf you are talking about. Kobe is as competitive as any player in the NBA and he can show his emotion when his team turns it over or is scored on etc. It's not like he berates his teammates for a miss. IMO he seems nothing but supportive of his teammates.
Anyone who says Kobe is a tosser is a complete Julius in my books. You freakin Julius.

*fall for Ginobili's flopping