Pick: Trailblazers vs. Spurs Under 190.5
There are three key players that are going to be out for tonight’s game between the Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs. Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobli will be watching from the sidelines for the Spurs, while Brandon Roy sits out for the Blazers with a back injury suffered in last night’s loss to the Thunder. I believe these losses will make for a lower-scoring game tonight in San Antonio. There have been planty of defensive battles between the Spurs and Blazers over the last couple seasons. In the last nine meetings, seven games have seen 189 or less combined points. The two games that went over that total were 192 and 194-point outputs. The UNDER is 6-1 in Trail Blazers last 7 road games vs. a team with a winning home record. The UNDER is 13-6 in Spurs last 19 home games. The Spurs are 46-25 to the UNDER in home games after playing 3 consecutive road games since 1996. Take the UNDER in this game Monday.
Pick: Indiana Pacers +2.5
The Celtics are 1-7 ATS in their last 8 games playing on 0 days rest and 4-10 ATS in their last 14 games as a road favorite. This is one of the more motivated spots for Indiana all season. It has lost each of the season’s first 3 meetings with Boston and it is coming off back-to-back embarrassing defeats to the Kings and Pistons. The Pacers defeated the Bulls by 7 points as a 4.5-point dog on March 18 so they certainly have what it takes to get past this fatigued Celtics squad. Take the Pacers.
NBA Pick: San Antonio spurs -3 -110
odds - March 28th 2011
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The Spurs are coming off a bad roadtrip where they went 0-3 but a return home should get them back on track. San Antonio is 33-3 at home this season and currently it is four games ahead of the Lakers in the Western Conference standings with nine games left including a game at Los Angeles in the second to last game of the season. The Lakers are the hottest team in the NBA right now with a 15-1 record since the All-Star break so the Spurs lead is far from safe at this point so they need to snap out of it.
Portland is also coming off a loss last night in Oklahoma City by nine points which was its fourth straight loss on the road following its upset win at Miami three weeks ago which extended its road winning streak to seven games. This recent run has dropped the Blazers to 16-21 on the road this season which certainly isn’t horrible but while going 10-6 as a road favorite, the Blazers are just 6-14 as a road underdog including a 17-point loss against the Spurs in the first meeting in San Antonio.
The Spurs are favored by three points less tonight than in that most recent home meeting and it is due to injuries. While Tim Duncan is out until next month, the Spurs lost Manu Ginobili last night with a quad contusion and his status for tonight is up in the air but he is unlikely to play. Obviously that hurts but the Blazers also took a hit last night as Brandon Roy hurt his back against the Thunder and is doubtful as well. Playing at home, the Spurs have the players which can step up.
San Antonio is playing with no rest and while that has been a problem in the past, this season it has been solid, going 10-4 both straight up and against the number in the second game of a back-to-back set. Also, the Spurs are 10-3 following a loss this season and while two of those have come in the last two games, as mentioned, heading home is a big edge. The Blazers meanwhile are 2-6-1 ATS in their last nine games following an ATS loss and 2-6 ATS in its last eight games as a road underdog of fewer than five points.
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