San Antonio Spurs vs Los Angeles Lakers 1/7/21: Starting Lineups, Preview, Betting Odds

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San Antonio Spurs vs. Los Angeles Lakers Matchup Preview

The San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers will square off for the third time in just nine games tonight as the regular season series shifts to the Staples Center. The Spurs are 0-2 against the Lakers so far and the Lakers are one of the hottest teams in the league, winning their last four consecutive games.

San Antonio is currently 12th in the Western Conference with a 3-4 record. They stopped their four-game skid recently in their first game of the Los Angeles road series against the Clippers on Tuesday night. That win made the Spurs 2-1 on the road so far this young season.

The Lakers are 6-2 and looking for their fifth straight win tonight. They are 2-2 at home in the Staples Center.

TV Schedule

Date: 1/7/21
Time: 9:00 PM CST
Arena: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Channel: Fox Sports Southwest (Spectrum Sports Network in LA)
Streaming: Picaso.TV, Fubo, Hulu+, Fox Sports Go

Injury Report

Spurs: Derrick White, Quinndary Weatherspoon (Out).
Lakers: Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Questionable/DTD), Alex Caruso (Out).

Spurs likely Starting 5

PG: Dejounte Murray
SG: Lonnie Walker
SF: Keldon Johnson
PF: DeMar DeRozan
C: LaMarcus Aldridge

Spurs Analysis

After opening the season 2-0, the San Antonio Spurs went on a four-game skid against Western Conference opponents, including two home losses to the Lakers, before they secured a solid win against Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers 116-113 on Tuesday night (Recap | Highlights).

In their win over the Clippers, Patty Mills came off the bench for 27 big points, sinking several three-pointers throughout the game.

“It was that competitive spirit we needed to start the road trip,” Mills said after the game. “To go out there and set this standard for us was important.”

Another Spurs point guard, starter Dejounte Murray also shook off a rough game in the previous game by finishing with 21 points, five rebounds, and five assists.

LaMarcus Aldridge made his return to the lineup and had 14 points and six rebounds. Rookie Devin Vassell had 12 points in 17 minutes, which made up for an uncharacteristically off game for DeMar DeRozan.

If the Lakers have both LeBron James and Anthony Davis available for tonight’s game, it’ll take a similar effort from the Spurs, especially the defense they displayed for about three quarters on Tuesday night.

Lakers likely Starting 5

PG: LeBron James
SG: Dennis Schroeder
SF: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
PF: Anthony Davis
C: Marc Gasol

Lakers Analysis

The Los Angeles Lakers ended their road trip 4-0 recently with a 94-92 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Lakers have become accustomed to winning after taking home the championship mere months ago and starting off the season hot. They’ll want to continue that trend tonight as they look for their third win over the Spurs in nine days and fifth consecutive win overall.

“We’re in the winning business and that’s what we want to do,” LeBron James said recently. “We want to continue to build great habits and we’re going to have times when we don’t play to our capabilities, but we still want to be able to continue to create great habits going forward, and I think we did that on this road trip.”

The Lakers have proven that their two stars can carry them to wins as they did against Memphis, but they’d like a more balanced scoring attack overall. On Tuesday night, James and Anthony Davis had 26 points apiece and they both piled on the boards and assists with 21 and 11 combined, but the only other player in double figures was Dannis Schroeder with 12 points.

They struggled defensively against the Grizzlies’ role players with Ja Morant out and Jaren Jackson Jr. still sidelined, and the Spurs’ role players have played a bigger factor this season, so that’ll be something to keep an eye on.

Spurs and Lakers DFS Picks 

For the Spurs, the safe bet is DeMar DeRozan, even though he is coming off an off game, but the risk/reward play should be on Dejounte Murray. He has a FanDuel projection of 34.2 points and he is available for $7.2k. Murray usually contributes in at least three major fantasy categories, so he could be a nice add to your lineup. One player that has also been in my lineups lately has been Keldon Johnson. He’s been mostly consistent and at $6.5k, he could be a nice piece for the bottom part of your roster.

For the Lakers, Anthony Davis has the second-highest projection for tonight with 48.8 points. There is a risk there if he ends up being sidelined, so check injury status regularly, but for that projection at just $10.4k, he has a relatively high pointer per $1k figure. Schroeder is also a good option at just $5.3k with a 28.3 FP projection.

Spurs vs. Lakers Betting

Spurs Spread: 5.5
Spurs Moneyline: +240
Lakers Spread: -5.5
Lakers Moneyline: -305
Over/Under Points Total: 222.5

While different sportsbooks have different spread and moneyline figures, the one thing in common is that the Lakers are the favorites heading into tonight’s game with the moneyline anywhere between -225 and -305 for them.

The Lakers opened up as the -9 favorite, so there’s been some movement. Currently, the Spurs are 5-0-1 against the spread and 3-0-0 on the road.

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