NBA 2019 Preview, Odds, And Prediction: Los Angeles Lakers vs San Antonio Spurs

The red-hot Los Angeles Lakers will head over to Texas to continue their road trip and face the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night at the AT&T Center.

The Lakers are still at the peak of the league at 14-2, winners of nine of their last 10 games and currently on the wave of a seven-game victory salvo. The Spurs, on the other hand, just woke up from their eight-straight losing nightmare – the longest in the Gregg Popovich era, after they defeated the Knicks in New York, 111-104.

Lebron James and the Lakers will enter the game with just a day off following their back-to-back games in OKC and Memphis. James is still the NBA leader in assists with 10.8 per game while still being a reliable scoring option with 25 a night. In fact, in the Lakers’ win over the Grizzlies, James put up 30 on 27 shots where he converted 14. The kind of trend that James plays will continue to keep the opponent’s defense guessing. On any given night, he can go full-on playmaker with Anthony Davis having a feast with his P&R sets and lob passes, or decide to go unstoppable on putting the ball into the hole.

The Lakers and Spurs last met on Nov. 3 where James posted a triple-double of 21 points, 13 assists, and 11 rebounds. The Lakers won, 103-96.

The stars aligned for the Spurs on Saturday night. Pop and his young guns finally found their seemingly lost groove on offense and their identity on the defensive end as they silenced the Madison Square Garden crowd. They shot the ball really well, accounting for 53.3 percent overall and made 12 of their 23 attempts from the beyond the arc.

Odds:

Based on odds in the books, the Spurs will fail to build momentum-building back-to-back wins as the Lakers are marked as five-point favorites ahead of the clash. The total line is set at over/under 223.

On the spread market, meanwhile, the trend shows that both the Lakers and Spurs have failed to cover the handicap in the last four games they faced a Western Conference team. However, the Spurs hold an impressive 16-5 ATS home record when facing a team with a winning road record. Mondays have not been so friendly for the surging Lakers as they have chalked up just 16 ATS wins in their last 51 games that were held on Mondays.

The Lakers’ offense has been on point in the last six games where they had a day of rest as the OVER selection seized the line in the said stretch. In the Spurs’ last 11 home games, the total went OVER the market line nine times.

Prediction:

It will be a close call on the spread market but expect the Lakers to cover. The Spurs have gotten a slight confidence from the previous win but it will not be enough to stop the NBA’s top team.

The 223 total line is too high for the Lakers who are still a top-five defensive rated team and the Spurs who have rediscovered their defensive philosophy. Go UNDER on this one.