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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:
- Pick:
- California
- Capper:
- Teddy Covers
- Start:
- March 18, 2016 - 2:00 PM
- Offered at:
- betonline @ -4.5 -110 California
- Analysis:
1* Take California (#844)
Oftentimes the college basketball betting markets are so predictable. Yes, Cal just lost their leading scorer, senior point guard Tyrone Wallace, to a broken hand that he suffered in practice earlier in the week. And the markets proceeded to do what they do, without a sliver of thought or research.
They hear ‘leading scorer’ or ‘senior point guard’ out and immediately start betting Hawaii, hand over fist.
All of which leaves us with Cal sitting at -4.5 or -5 as I write this; in a game that has legitimate ‘mismatch’ potential. First, let me start with Wallace. He’s missed five games earlier in the year, and then came off the bench for the next three. Cal went 6-2 SU, 5-3 ATS in the games that Wallace missed, including wins over Arizona and Oregon, two teams that are FAR better than Hawaii.
How has Cal been able to thrive without their senior point guard before? Simple – they’ve got a backup who is almost as good. Sam Singer doesn’t have Wallace’s scoring prowess , but that’s no big deal for a team that has five players averaging in double figures and a pair of potential NBA lottery picks in their freshman class. What Singer does BETTER than Wallace is distribute, with more assists and fewer turnovers than Wallace despite the duo playing nearly equal minutes for the season. Wallace’s absence won’t help Cal, obviously, but it won’t hurt the Bears nearly as much as the markets seem to think it will with their knee-jerk betting reaction.
And make no mistake about it – this Cal squad is capable of making a deep run into this tournament. The Bears came on like a freight train down the stretch riding those two elite freshmen, Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb, both potential NBA lottery picks this summer. Cuonzo Martin’s squad has gone 9-2 SU, 8-2-1 ATS in their last eleven ballgames, the only losses coming against Arizona and Utah; one in OT, the other by three points. Hawaii certainly doesn’t compare favorably with either of those squads.
Hawaii is going to jack up a bunch of three pointers here, like they do in most games, not a team capable of driving the ball and scoring in the paint against the Bears big, physical frontcourt. If they hit some of those three’s they might hang around for a while, but if they don’t this one could get ugly early. Each and every one of Hawaii’s few quality foes this year visited Honolulu, not the other way around. I do NOT expect the Warriors to hang tough in Seattle in early start action on Friday. Take California.
Teddy entered the Big Dance riding a scorching 38-16 (70%), +$15,800 All Sports Run over the past three weeks, delivering HUGE profits for himself and his clients! Don’t miss a single ‘right side’ winner all weekend long….
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Read More... [Source: Covers.com: NBA News and Stories]
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