Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Game of the Day: Thunder at Spurs

USA Today Images

Oklahoma City Thunder At San Antonio Spurs (-8.5, 210.5)

The San Antonio Spurs opened the season with a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, but it has been a dominant run ever since. The Spurs will look to exact a measure of revenge and extend their lengthy home winning streak when they host the Thunder on Saturday in the first meeting since the season-opening encounter in Oklahoma.

San Antonio opened its five-game homestand with a 109-101 victory over Chicago on Thursday to improve to 31-0 at AT&T Center this season and extend its home winning streak to 40 games dating to last season. One more victory at home will give the Spurs sole possession of the third-longest run in NBA history as they enter this one tied with the Orlando Magic of the mid-1990s and four behind the Chicago Bulls of the same era. A meeting on the back end of the homestand with the Golden State Warriors - who pulled into Friday with an NBA-record 46 straight home wins and a three-game lead on San Antonio in the Western Conference - is looming, but the Spurs must first contend with what could be an angry Thunder squad. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined for 54 points but their teammates provided little support in a home loss to Minnesota on Friday, Oklahoma City's seventh defeat in 11 games.

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC

LINE HISTORY: The Spurs opened as eight point favorites at home and by early Saturday morning that line was already adjusted to -8.5. The total opened at 213 on Friday afternoon, wobbled throughout the evening, began falling overnight, and settled in at 210.5 near mid-morning on Saturday.

INJURY REPORT:

Thunder - SG D. Waiters (Questionable Saturday, personal)
               SG A. Robinson (Questionable Saturday, ankle)

Spurs - No injuries to report.

COVERS POWER RANKINGS: Thunder (-9.7) - Spurs (-16.4) + home court (-3) = Spurs -9.7

DANCE TEAM WAR:

ABOUT THE THUNDER (44-21): Starting guard Andre Roberson lasted 14 minutes before a left ankle injury knocked him out of Friday's loss. Anthony Morrow, who could pick up some of the minutes if Roberson is absent, was 1-of-8 from the floor against Minnesota and missed all six of his 3-point tries, falling to 1-of-11 from long distance over the last two games. Westbrook had 33 points and 10 assists against the Spurs in the season opener.

ABOUT THE SPURS (55-10): Only three players reached double figures in the win over the Bulls but all three - Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge and Tony Parker - hit the 20-point mark. Parker, who also had a season-high 12 assists, was 10-of-16 from the floor after going 4-of-17 over his previous three games combined as he made a solid return from a toe injury. Thursday's high-scoring trio will hope for more support from the rest of the Spurs, who combined to shoot 14-for-43.

TWEET BEAT:


 
TRENDS:

* Thunder are 1-5-1 ATS in their last 7 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
* Spurs are 13-3 ATS in their last 16 vs. NBA Northwest.
* Under is 4-0 in Thunder last 4 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.
* Under is 7-1 in Spurs last 8 games following a straight up win.

COVERS CONSENSUS: Surprisingly, the public is betting against the top team on the Covers.com Power Rankings despite the numbers above indicating that the point spread is too low. 66 percent of the bettors are picking the Thunder to cover and 64 percent of them are betting on this game to go over the number. "); h = d.getElementById(tid); h.parentNode.insertBefore(s, h); })(document);
!--*** Footer scoreboard ************ -->









Click here to go to Win A Day Casino Mobile!

Top 10 NO deposit Bonus offers @

Read More... [Source: Covers.com: NBA News and Stories]

No comments:

Post a Comment