Game Thread: San Antonio Spurs @ Los Angeles Lakers - Life Post Kobe

Time: 6:30
Channel: NBATV

Kobe Bryant tore his achilles. Everyone should know that up front if you haven't heard yet and I'm betting most of the pople in the Seattle area have not heard that. The Lakers are also one game ahead of the Utah Jazz with two to play. Utah owns the tie-breaker over the Lakers. Each of these games are extremely important to both teams. After tonight the Lakers have to play the Rockets (who are trying to slip into the sixth seed in the west).

Mike D'Antoni has shorted the Lakers bench in recent weeks and Kobe has been carrying the scoring and minutes load. Lakers are going to have big games from Earl Clark and Jodie Meeks to cover the scoring load.

It is worth noting that Manu Ginobli is out for the Spurs and we are not sure exactly how many minutes are Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard are going to get tonight.

For a great and thorough game preview, I'm going to kick this over to our friends at Pounding the Rock. and Silver Screen and Roll.

Game Preview: San Antonio Spurs vs. Los Angeles Lakers - Pounding The Rock
The Spurs look to get a key victory against the Kobe-less Los Angeles Lakers, while in pursuit of the number one seed in the West..

Lakers - Spurs Preview: No expectations - Silver Screen and Roll
Kobe Bryant is out for the season, Steve Nash is still missing, and there is no way to know how the Los Angeles Lakers will respond.

I'm going to take the Spurs in this one.