The San Antonio Spurs come into game four looking to sweep the Los Angeles Lakers and move on to the second round of the NBA Playoffs. The Spurs have been dominant through the first three games of the series, anchored by the strong play of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. However, they will be without a key rotation player for game four.
New came out on Saturday that center Tiago Splitter will miss game four against Los Angeles after suffering an ankle injury in game three. The injury happened when he got tangled up in the post with Lakers guard Darius Morris. Splitter has been playing 23.7 minutes per game in this series as the starting center, but hasn’t exactly been effective.
Through the first three games of the series, Splitter is averaging only five points, four rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in his role as a starter. He has also turned the ball over two times per game and shooting just 35.7 percent from the field against the likes of Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol. It’s safe to say that he has had a rough series thus far.
Without Splitter on the floor, the Spurs have two options as to how they can replace him. The first option is to move Duncan to the center position and bring in Matt Bonner as the starting power forward. The other option is to leave Duncan at the four and bring in DeJuan Blair as the other big man in the starting lineup.
Both options seem like they will work out just fine for the Spurs. Bonner has been playing serious minutes in this series and has been playing incredibly well. In 26.7 minutes per game he has averaged 8.7 points, four rebounds, one block and one steal per game while shooting 9-14 from the field and converting on five of his seven three-point attempts.
Blair hasn’t played serious minutes in this series, averaging just 8.7 per game, but has put up production similar to Splitter’s in that limited role. He has averaged 4.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game on 6-8 shooting from the floor. He’s been solid for the few minutes that he’s been on the floor.
Though Splitter has been an integral part of the Spurs’ rotation, San Antonio shouldn’t be worried about not having him in the lineup for game four. He has been relatively ineffective in this series and the deep bench of the Spurs has solid options to come in and replace Splitter. In the end it still seems like the Spurs will be able to finish off the depleted Lakers in game four.
Cody Williams is a Senior NBA Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20 and like his Facebook page.
