NBA Picks: San Antonio Spurs at Portland Trail Blazers
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
The San Antonio Spurs will get a nine-game road trip kicked off Tuesday night at the Rose Garden against the Portland Trail Blazers. San Antonio beat Portland 95-78 at home on Dec. 12, but have lost their last four games in Portland.
San Antonio won 108-95 at home against the Houston Rockets to improve to 40-7 this season. The Spurs have won three straight overall and 11 of their last 12 overall.
Things haven’t been going so good for the Trail Blazers, Portland hasn’t played since losing to Boston 88-78 at home last Thursday, and will look to avoid losing three straight at home for the first time since the 2007-08 season.
Taking a look at the NBA spreads for this game, oddsmakers have the Spurs favored by 5.5-points over the Trail Blazers with the total set at 190.5.
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The Spurs continue to play at en extremely high level, and it really takes a good game from the opposing team to beat this team. The Spurs got team-high 22 points from Manu Ginobili in their latest game against the Rockets, but all five starters scored in double figures, and George Hill came off the bench to score 14. DeJuan Blair had 14 poitns and 12 rebounds, and Tim Duncan scored 12 and grabbed seven boards in just 27 minutes of work.
The Spurs really did a nice job defensively in their earlier matchup against the Trail Blazers, as Portland shot just 37.9% from the field and turned it over 14 times. The Spurs defense hasn’t been as good on the road, and that is something this team wants to improve on. San Antonio allowed an average of 107 points a game during their most recent three game road trip.
The Trail Blazers had to enjoy the time off, as they have a number of players who are battling injuries right now. Nicolas Batum, Rudy Fernandez, and Wesley Matthews are all listed as probable on the injury report, and I would expect them all to be ready to play.
Portland had just four players score in double figures in their last game against the Celtics. LaMarcus Aldridge had a team-high with just 17 points, but did have 16 rebounds. Andre Miller had 14 points, seven assists, and five boards, while Matthews chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds.
The Trail Blazers continue to play without Brandon Roy and Marcus Camby, and really can’t afford to have anyone else out with an injury. One thing you can say about the Trail Blazers is they will continue to play hard no matter who they have in the lineup.
The problem for them is the Spurs only loss this season against a team with a losing record was against a Clippers team that is climbing the rankings pretty fast right now. San Antonio is playing some of the best team basketball in the entire league, and I think it will end up in another easy win for the Spurs.
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