After suffering their worse road-loss of the 2008 playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers are looking to bounce back from a sub-par game 3 performance. San Antonio in the other hand, will try to duplicate an almost perfect game 3. With a home victory, the SAS are back into the thick of things, in this year’s Western Conference Finals, currently with LA leading the way 2-1. SportsBetting.com has the San Antonio Spurs a -4 point favorite to win game 4 over the Los Angeles Lakers +4 and the O/U for this game has been set at a combined 192 points.

For San Antonio, they finally got the kind of performance from the Argentine, Manu Ginobili, that they’ll continue to depend on, if they want to get passed a more talented LA Lakers team. The turning point in game 3 came early in the first quarter. In the opening stanza, Ginobili caught fire.  

Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers certainly came out with the type of intensity they needed to get the Spurs crowd out of the game, and perhaps, steal one on the road.

Ginobili, however, had different ideas. After trailing in the early going, Manu took it upon himself to get the champs back in the game.

Manu made an array of well-defended 3-point shots, and brought the Spurs back within striking distance. After that, all the momentum shifted towards the Spurs, as they were able to build a large deficit, and sustain it for the duration of the game.

For LA, they played just a sloppy game. Besides Kobe Bryant, everyone else seemed to have left their game back at the Staples. For the purple and gold, this was almost an exact replica of how they played in game 1. The difference was that, when Kobe tried to bail them out, they couldn’t get any stops at the other end, as the SAS scored the basketball at will in the second half.

The keys for the Lakers’ success in this series are: first Lamar Odom, second Pau Gasol, third Derek Fisher, and last, their infamous “Bench Mob”. Indeed every one is needed; Kobe cannot continue to do what he did in game 1, when he took over the game. If his teammates can’t play defense, and contribute by filling in the box score, LA will not win this series.

Look for Lamar to have a good bounce-back game: score plenty of points, collect at least 15 rebounds, and dish out 3-6 assists. In the end, the Spurs (much like the rest of the league) have no answer for Lamar’s versatility, talent, and incredible potential.

The point spread for this game 4, seems a bit suspect to me. The Lakers were underdogs (+6) going into game 3. LA got blown out (-19), yet the point-spread for tonight’s game has diminished (+4) rather than increased (for the Lakers).

I do believe, they will not, under any circumstance play the way they did in game 3. This game will be highly competitive. I look for LA to make adjustments to keep Duncan from running free, and from Parker penetrating the paint at will.

LA must use their speed, to push the tempo of the game at every opportunity, and ultimately come close to winning the game, or loosing by less than the projected point spread.

My NBA Prediction: LAL +4

SAS will probably win game 4 because they are at home. However, I don't think they can fullfil the -4 point spread. More over, with the Lakers having Kobe Bryant in the game, anything is possible.     

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