San Antonio Spurs vs. Los Angeles Lakers 12/7/18: Starting Lineups, Matchup Breakdown, Odds, Daily Fantasy, Betting

San Antonio Spurs vs. Los Angeles Lakers Preview

It’s safe to say San Antonio Spurs (11-14) and Los Angeles Lakers (15-9) know each other well at this point. The Spurs and Lakers will conclude their regular season series tonight in San Antonio. The Spurs are in an area that may seem foreign to them as they remain below .500. They have struggled mightily lately, winning only three of their last ten games and returning back to the AT&T Center having lost their last two games, one of which was against the Lakers in the Staples Center.

The Lakers, meanwhile, are riding a four-game winning streak, and are 7-3 in their last ten as they continue to trend north. They are currently fifth in the tight Western Conference, but are just two games out of first place.

TV Schedule

Date: 12/7/18
Time: 8:30pm ET
Arena: AT&T Center, Sab Abtonio, TX
Channel: Fox Sports SW/SPECSN

San Antonio Spurs Starting Lineup

PositionStarter
PGDerrick White
SGBryn Forbes
SFDeMar DeRozan
PFLaMarcus Aldridge
CJakob Poeltl

Spurs Analysis

San Antonio SpursThe Spurs seemed to be headed in the right direction after a recent win over the Portland Trailblazers, but it seems to have been fool’s gold as they dropped games this week to both the Lakers and the Utah Jazz.

Their defensive struggles were never more apparent than when they allowed LeBron James to go off for 42 points in their 113-121 loss on Wednesday night. With Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green now in another country, and with their best returning perimeter defender, Dejounte Murray out for the season, the Spurs have turned to Dante Cunningham to try to limit shooting guards and small forwards this season, but James was clearly too much of a challenge and the Lakers rendered him ineffective by making him switch off of James on high screens, particularly in a stretch where James scored 14 straight.

Offensively the Spurs look to DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge to shoulder the offensive load. When one of the two struggles, it’s usually not a great sign for San Antonio, who don’t have the defensive personnel to get their offense more opportunities. There’s also been a bit of an inconsistency on who will contribute on offense behind DeRozan and Aldridge. Normally that would be Rudy Gay, but he put up a goose egg in one game this week, and then looked unstoppable in another.

Spurs Quick Links: Spurs Starting Lineup, Spurs Roster, Spurs Depth Chart, Spurs Injuries, Spurs News, Spurs Schedule

Los Angeles Lakers Starting Lineup

PositionStarter
PGLeBron James
SGKentavious Caldwell-Pope
SFDanny Green
PFAnthony Davis
CJaVale McGee

Lakers Analysis

Los Angeles LakersThe Lakers looked pedestrian early, even with the addition of James, but the pieces seem to be coming together and LA is hitting their stride. James leads the pack, and unlike the Spurs, several other scorers are capable of big nights.

Kyle Kuzma seems to be kryptonite to the Spurs and he always seems to have good games against the team that wanted to draft him and also reportedly wanted him included in a Kawhi Leonard trade package. Lonzo Ball also had a big game against San Antonio with 14 points and nine assists.

The young Lakers seem to be hitting a flow with James, and several of the other new players, have also started to transition nicely.

Lakers Quick Links: Lakers Starting LineupLakers Roster, Lakers Depth Chart, Lakers InjuriesLakers NewsLakers Schedule

Spurs vs. Lakers Betting Odds

While the Lakers and the Spurs seem to be heading into different directions currently, the Spurs are -1.5 favorites to win tonight’s home game and take the season series lead 3-1.

The moneyline opened at -120 for the Spurs and there’s been a slight change as they are currently -115 with just hours to go before the game.

The Spurs are 6-14-5 against the spread and 6-0-5 at home, whereas the Lakers are 7-10-17 and 0-10-0 on the road.

Odds & Line Movement Links: San Antonio Spurs vs. Los Angeles Lakers, Vegas Odds (All NBA Games Today)

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DraftKings & FanDuel Fantasy Picks

While they likely won’t face off against eachother much on the floor, the marquee matchup for this game is James and DeRozan, who are our stud picks.

James has an $11,000 salary on FanDuel with a projection of 55.33. On Wednesday, he put up 61 fantasy points, so just over 55 is not far fetched. On Draft Kings, his salary of $10,800 is expected to net you 56.32 points.

DeRozan may not do anything to your three-point shooting numbers, but the midrange marvel has been scoring plenty of points lately, and he’s also San Antonio’s go-to passer. His FanDuel salary is $8,600 and he is projected for 39.48 points ($8,900/39.76 on DraftKings).

With his recent history against the Spurs, Kuzma is my value pick. He’ll likely receive a favorable defensive matchup and his DraftKings salary of $6,800 isn expected to be good for 32.66 points ($7,100/31.77 on FanDuel)

The last time I picked Rudy Gay, it burned me as he didn’t score a single point, but he came back on fire the next night with 45 fantasy points. His $5,800 salary on FanDuel is projected to net 30.48 points ($5,900/30.46 on DraftKings).

Find all of our Fanduel and Draftkings projections here: https://www.lineups.com/nba/nba-fantasy-basketball-projections

Post
Michael is Chief Editor at Lineups.com. He has decades of combined experience in traditional print journalism and online media and is the publisher of the Project Spurs Network, which includes 13 team-specific sports media sites and the flagship ProjectSpurs.com. He is also the creator of the first Spurs podcast and the longest-running sports podcast on the internet, the Spurscast, and was formerly the host of the News 4 San Antonio Sports Roundtable.

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