The San Antonio Spurs They won this Sunday at Portland Trail Blazers (92-113) and further reduced the few options for the Los Angeles Lakers to sneak into the ‘play-in’ of the Western Conference.
Unlike the Angelenos, a team in ruins with six straight lossesGregg Popovich’s Spurs have faced the outcome of the regular season with very good feelings and they have six wins in their last seven games.
The Spurs closed their double confrontation with the Blazers with a new victorywho have nothing at stake and those who already defeated on Friday (111-130).
Without Dejounte Murray and Jakob Poeltl, two of his main references, those from San Antonio took the victory today thanks to Keldon Johnson (28 points), Zach Collins (18 points and 13 rebounds) and Tre Jones (18 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists).
Keon Johnson and Ben McLemore, with 19 points apiecewere the best of a Blazers who have lost seven straight.
With this new victory, the Spurs are tenth in the West (33-45)the last place in the ‘play-in’, ahead of some Lakers (31-47) who have won the tiebreaker.
Mathematically, the Lakers still have options to overtake the Spursbut the sensations on the pitch say otherwise.
Since the All-Star break, the Lakers have a shocking balance of 4-16, Lebron James He was unable to take the field today in his team’s loss to the Denver Nuggets (118-129) due to ankle problems and Anthony Davis is playing with obvious pain in his right foot.
Also, the Lakers’ schedule for an improbable comeback is a path full of dangers, since the four remaining games are against the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets.
Ninth in the West are the New Orleans Pelicans (34-44), who hit the table by beating the Los Angeles Lakers (111-114) on Friday but fell clearly to the Los Angeles Clippers today (119-100).
Marcus Morris (22 points) was the best of the Clippers who made 21 of 44 triples while in the Pelicans CJ McCollum stood out with 19 points.
The Pelicans also have won the tiebreaker to the Lakers.