Spurs vs. Lakers: Biggest Foes for Each Team in 2012 NBA Playoffs
The San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers have a lot of history when you look back at recent postseason basketball.
The two franchises, widely viewed as the two best Western Conference teams since the 1990’s, have met 11 times overall in the postseason, with the Lakers coming out ahead eight of those times. Since current stars Kobe Bryant (1996) and Tim Duncan (1997) arrived on the scene, the Lakers have won four of six postseason meetings against the Spurs.
Often the NBA championship has gone through one of these franchises and it very well could do so again this year.
The Spurs and Lakers have developed quite the rivalry over the last decade-and-a-half and will be each other’s playoff foe once again this season.
If the current seeding holds true (assuming the Spurs end up No. 2 and the Lakers end up No. 3) and both teams win their opening series, the two will be on a collision course to meet up once again in the second round. A trip to the Western Conference Finals will be at stake.
If the Spurs can claim the No. 1 seed overall, the two still have a chance to play for an NBA Finals appearance.
The rivalry between the two franchises is based on playoff success. The 2011 season marked the first time since 2006 that neither the Spurs nor the Lakers appeared in the Western Conference Finals and for only the second time since 1999, neither team made the NBA Finals (Dallas won the West in 2006 and 2011).
Yet this season could give us one of the best Spurs vs. Lakers series we’ve seen to date.
The two teams met six days ago when the Lakers went into San Antonio and came out with a win behind a 30-rebound effort from Andrew Bynum. They will meet two more times down the stretch, including a big matchup tonight at the Staples Center.
That’s plenty of time to spark up some bad blood between the two teams.
No matter who either team could potentially meet in the Western Conference Finals, both Los Angeles and San Antonio represent the biggest foe for each other along the way.
San Antonio’s Big Three in Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili are out to prove they have one more championship run left in them. Coincidentally, Bryant, Bynum and Pau Gasol are out to do the same.
One of the teams could get a shot at the title once the playoffs get going.
It’s almost fitting that they will have to go through each other to do it
