The San Antonio Spurs (3-0) will look to sweep the Los Angeles Lakers (0-3) out of the playoffs tonight in Los Angeles but if L.A. wants to avoid getting swept, they'll have to do it without key players.

Steve Nash, Steve Blake, Jodie Meeks, Metta World Peace and of course Kobe Bryant will not play in Game 4 making the Lakers' job at avoiding an early summer vacation that much tougher. However, the Spurs are also limping heading into Game 4 with Boris Diaw and Tiago Splitter (ankle) out tonight.

The Spurs are coming off a 120-89 thrashing of L.A. in Game 3 in Los Angeles. Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 26 points, and nine rebounds.The Spurs shot a whopping 61%, and held a 49-35 rebounding edge and even a 7-3 edge in blocked shots.

And as the Spurs hope to advance to the second-round of the playoffs, here are five things to watch for during tonight's contest:

• The Spurs are 22-5 when Manu Ginobili records 18-or-more points off the bench in the playoffs.

Last night's San Antonio Spurs' win was a lopsided affair versus the Los Angeles Lakers with the Spurs taking a commanding 3-0 lead in this first round playoff series, but the game also featured Tim Duncan showing he can rise up for the dunk despite his age.

Early in the first quarter, Danny Green threw a pretty lob pass to Duncan as he cut to the rim and finished off the alley oop with power.

Check out Duncan with the monster slam.

Andrew Goudelock was called upon by the Los Angeles Lakers in desperation.

The team lost both of its starting guards (Steve Nash and Steve Blake) to injury and had two other on the team that couldn't play the whole game despite a short rotation. This would be his first NBA playoff game with one of the league's most richest franchise's.

A normal player would've probably been nervous and humble going into the game, but Andrew Goudelock was the exact opposite. When asked about guarding Tony Parker, he answered by showing off his confidence in his skills and game.

On the opposite side of the Western Conference playoffs bracket, but only a state away, the Oklahoma City Thunder are reeling from the loss of guard Russell Westbrook for an as of yet undetermined amount of time. Should it prove longer than a week or two, the prohibitive Western Conference Finals will likely see their season fall short of lofty expectations. 

In Los Angeles, regardless of what happens against the San Antonio Spurs, the Lakers season fell apart the moment Kobe Bryant fell to a gruesome Achilles injury. 

It was a seemingly harmless play, a step that Bryant had made thousands of times before in his basketball career. And like that, whatever hopes the Lakers had reclaimed for a playoff run in the second half of the season ended. 

That an entire basketball season could be determined by one misstep, one random collision, is proof enough that so much of what determines an NBA champion is actually out of the hands of the team that wins it. 

The San Antonio Spurs humiliated the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 120-89 leaving L.A. on the brink of elimination from the playoffs and giving L.A. the worst home playoff loss in Lakers history.

Injuries to the Lakers' roster and being out-manned by San Antonio doesn't help Los Angeles in avoiding a sweep but forward Metta World Peace is being the optimist when it comes to Game 4 this Sunday in L.A.

After the game, Metta said he will "probably" sit out Sunday's game based on his poor performance in Game 3 thus giving the Lakers a better shot at getting their first postseason win.

“(I’m) feeling healthy. (I’m) feeling good.”

That was San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan after posting a dominant 26 points, nine rebounds, and block in his teams rout of the Los Angeles Lakers in Staple Center 120-89, to take a commanding 3-0 series lead.  

How bad was the 31-point loss for the Lakers, who were without all of their starting guards and had to use D-League MVP Andrew Goudelock and Darius Morris in the lineup? The blow out was the worst home playoff loss in Lakers history.

The Spurs collected 30 assists on Friday. Tony Parker was part of the contribution with his 20 points and seven assists. With the passing came more scoring, as five Spurs finished with more than 10 points – Kawhi Leonard matched his playoff average with 12 points, Danny Green broke out of his shooting funk for a night with 11 points, and even DeJuan Blair put up “Tony Parker floaters” according to Dwight Howard with 13 points in the fourth quarter.

UPDATE:  Marcus Spears has updated Tiago Splitter's injury.

X-rays on Splitter's ankle negative. (@SpearsNBAYahoo)

The San Antonio Spurs updated Tiago Splitter's injury against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Injury report: Tiago Splitter suffered a sprained left ankle. He will not return to tonight's game. (@Spurs)

The matchup for Game 3 of the opening round of the playoffs will be between Kawhi Leonard and Metta World Peace.

This has been an interesting matchup to watch in the series so far with both men having entirely different games. Leonard has relied on his balanced overall game using his speed, length, and athleticism while World Peace relies mostly on his strength. Leonard is leading the San Antonio Spurs by playing 37.5mpg this postseason and chipping in 12ppg with 9rpg. Leonard is leading the team in rebounding which is a welcome sight to the Spurs since that's been a position that hasn't done well in this department. Metta World Peace is averaging 9ppg with 5.5rpg in 33.5. Those aren't impressive statistics with a short rotation and the ineffectiveness Steve Nash has brought to the team coupled with injuries to the team. He'll be looking to step up in the first game in the Staples Center this postseason.

What Leonard must do on offense:

The San Antonio Spurs (2-0) look to put a strangle hold on their opening round playoff series versus the Los Angeles Lakers (0-2) in Los Angeles tonight.

The Spurs held court winning their first two games in San Antonio. In Game 2, San Antonio beat the Lakers 102-91. Parker finished with 28 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds while Duncan had  6 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks. Dwight Howard paced L.A. with 16 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks. However, for L.A., they'll be without guard Steve Blake (hamstring) with Steve Nash ((hip and hamstring) and Jodie Meeks (ankle) are doubtful for Game 3.

And as the Spurs look to take a commanding 3-0 tonight in L.A., here are five things to watch for during tonight's contest:

• The Spurs' bench have outscored the Lakers' bench 72-34 in two games.

• Matt Bonner had his second consecutive game scoring in double figures  which marks just the second time in his postseason career to post back-to-back double figure scoring games.

The San Antonio Spurs have become accustomed to seeing Manu Ginobili injured entering or during the playoffs.

When he was injured yet again during the final stretch run of the season, the Spurs’ playoff hopes dwindled. Ginobili and Tony Parker said the goal, for Manu, was to return for the last few games and hopefully be back to 100 percent by the time the Finals or Conference Finals started.

In the finals game of the season against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Ginobili returned, finishing with two points and two rebounds in 12 minutes.

It’s safe to say that no one expected too much from Manu, aside from having another warm body to play a few minutes a game as he worked his way back from injury during the first two games with the Lakers.