Pregaming: Spurs vs. Lakers

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The big news heading into tonight’s Spurs-Lakers matchup, outside of Kobe Bryant sitting out, is that Gary Neal will also miss tonight’s game because of gastroenteritis. Basically, it’s a stomach bug.

During his pregame press conference, Coach Pop addressed the issue that’s been brought up about benching the Spurs’ top three players and how that affects both the playoff race and ticket-buying fans.

Regarding the playoff race, Pop didn’t seem to care. Basically, it’s up to those teams to take care of (or have taken care of) business on their own.

When it comes to fans who purchased tickets to see the Spurs in action, especially those Spurs fans living in road cities, Pop had sympathy for them. He said he got a couple of letters from fans after the Portland game expressing their dissatisfaction and mentioned he’d feel the same way, but he has other responsibilities and priorities.

While I doubt all Spurs fans will agree with his opinion on the matter, I would expect the majority would respect it.

On a more positive note, Manu Ginobili is eight points away from his 10,000 career point. I would hope that comes tonight against the Lakers.

  • Spurholic in Mumbai

    How heart breaking would it be for the Spurs, if they lose to a “kobe-less” Lakers at home? Sitting her in Mumbai 5.28AM, waiting for the game to start. How would the importance of this game in Spurs regular season schedule be impacted with the “Kobe-less” phenomenon?

  • DorieStreet

    If tickets did not cost as much as they do, it might (just a bit) ease the chagrin Spurs feel when this practice of sitting the team’s best players on the road is employed. But when you take into effect the rare opportunities of seeing your favorite team in person (especially those who live in eastern conference cities/regions), the sacrifice of time and effort (having to take a day/night off from work to attend a game, for example) in addition to the $$$ spent—-it adds up to a very exasperated experience. Probably the only thing that would ease the discouragement (bysides a partial refund) is being present for a Spurs road victory sans its stars.

  • DorieStreet

    TYPO: ” ….east the chagrin Spurs FANS feel when this practice of….”

  • Bentley

    Gonna go ahead and say it now, this Spurs team has played overall amazing during this season. But this team at best is looking at a second round exit. They just can’t play defense or rebound well and teams like the Lakers, Grizzlies and Thunder will all exploit it.

  • DorieStreet

    Well, Spurholic in Mumbai - it just happened; but “heart breaking” won’t come to mind for 99.99% of the team’s followers in describing this game.
    The importance of this contest (and the remaining two next week) was not lost on the 48MOH staff-3 blogs previewing the game tonight.
    I suspect half the fans will vent mightily, while the other half say “burn the tape and erase the slate-
    tipoff against the Memphis Grizzlies is less than 20 hours away.

  • chippwalters

    Yup, agree. Pop should’ve played Splitter earlier and more. He’s done a decent job this year agains big Bigs. Timmy is too light and just about any big can post up Blair. Boris has never been known for his lock down dee- so I thing Splitter should be more involved when we’re up against size.

    Also, it seems like the big 3 decided NOT to let anyone else play on offense this game. It was either Tony, Timmy or Manu shooting just about every time down the floor in the heart of the game- something which is not good. They need to remember there are others on this team who can score, and keep moving the ball.

  • DorieStreet

    Looking at box score- the Lakers kept the petal to the metal: Metta & Pau - 40 minutes; Bynum - 37 { 30 rebounds in 37 minutes!} ; Sessions - 31 minutes.

  • neverthehero

    Pop is treating Splitter like a toy that is never taken out of the bubble wrap. It’s embarrassing to him to get so few minutes all the time. 3/4 in shooting, here’s a thought feed him the damn ball.

  • theghostofjh

    Who cares about Kobe. He’s a ball hog.