San Antonio Spurs
Spurs is a team that are on its way down, they don't have that kind of talent anymore like they had a couple of years ago and they don't have the same talent coming in the second round of the draft from Europe like they use to. It happens, NBA is a league of cycels but the Spurs organization have doged this cycle for many years now. The team has always had a ace up its sleeve and the scouting as been exceptional. Now, year 2019 they haven't had the "luck" in drafting game changers in the second round. Im not saying that players like Derrick White for example aren't good enough for the NBA but he's not enough to take a team deep into the playoffs year in year out. Demar Derozan and LaMarcus Aldrdge aren't good enough to get out of their box and comfort zone, Spurs play a non-modern game of basketball Derozan and Aldridge play in the midrange, like they have their whole career and Popovich have accepted that he makes the playbook and system around what he has to work with. It's more the bench with players like Marco Belinelli and Patty Mills that are shooting threes.
Popvich already last season looked a bit tired, he wasn't as engaged as he had been previously in the regular season even tough they got to the playoffs and play well against a inexperiencet team in the Nuggets you could see then already that they were going downwards.
They come in with a win against Portland to this game against LAC. The Spurs haven't had the defensive grit the last couple of years like they had when Tim Duncan played, even tough they are a good team defensivley it shows that they don't always rotate proparly or are as concentrated to make the play defensivley like they use to. It will however be a great point ephasis in this game to lockdown on defense against these Clippers who have so many layers of offense they can use. Offensivley the Spurs have a midrange mentality like they have had the last couple of seasons, sens LaMarcus Aldridge became the number one guy, and the bench will have to step up against the best bench in the league and the best duo in Lou Williams and Montrelz Harrell. Rudy Gay and Patty Mills will be important for them and hopefully Marco Belinelli can step up after having a underwelhming start to the season.
How will the game play out tonight in LA? If the Spurs can abuse the paint all game long it's going to be a close game, they have LaMarcus who can do so much inside, he's big, strong and has an amazing touch around the basket and if he can have a good game against Zubac and Harrell than the Spurs can keep it close. The focus showed be getting close to the basket and going for layups as LA are weak inside. SA has good chance taking a bit a surprise victory because LA has been on a b2b even if Leonard is didn't play against the Jazz.
Los Angeles Clippers
Clippers played yesterday against the Jazz but the important part is that this was a schedueld loss, Leonard didn't play and it was a quick one game away from home. LAC has started the season okey, the loss against the Suns was a bit of a surprise but the Suns did a good job keeping the bench and roleplayers away from having a big game. Clippers are a good team overall that we know but there are ofcourse weaknesses, inside defense most of all. The focus needs to be to limit damage inside. Harrell maybe a solution to the problem, he played just 14 minutes in Utah and will probably played a lot more in this game. Leonard is back on the floor after his rest and will play, he will be focused on destroy these Spurs, even if the Kawhi-Spurs saga a couple of years ago is done he will never forgive them for what they did. He will come out at a 100% and a Kawhi who's a 100% focused on his goal is a monster, a Terminator.
The bench will ofcourse be important too, Lou Will will have a good game as he goes up against players who are weak defensivley. I really like this Clippers team, they have a lot of different player types who mesh togheter well. To get a -4.5 line against a notoriusly bad away team in the Spurs is a good line even if they are b2b.
Bet
Like you may have guessed already by the last line my bet is Clippers -4.5 @1.90 at bet365. Clippers have a different mentality then the Spurs, a different defensive mentality which will be important tonight. Kawhi, Lou, Harrell, Beverley are really good players with different focus in the their game but they are so good allround as a team. Spurs will have a tough if they can't keep it close and abuse the paint and play to Aldridges strenghts.
