Tonight a big game in the Western Conference will take place and we will see the San Antonio Spurs take on the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The game has a start time of 10:30 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN. Current Vegas betting odds have Golden State listed as 8 point favorites, while the total is set at 209.
Analysis: The San Antonio Spurs had a pretty mediocre 1st half of the season by their standard and started off their post All-Star portion of their schedule with a 119-115 loss to a shorthanded Clippers squad last night. The Spurs are now 34-20 on the year and if the playoffs started today they would be a number 7 seed. This is a team that is used to winning the Southwest and being a number 1 or two seed in this West. San Antonio has gone 4-0 ATS in the last 4 meetings in Golden State, but just 1-5 ATS in their last 6 road games vs. a team with a winning home record. The Spurs have been a rather average offensive team this year, ranking 11th in scoring (100.9 ppg), 12th in shooting, 6th in 3 point shooting and 11th in FT shooting. The defense for this team has been very good as they come in ranked 5th in points allowed (97.1 ppg), 11th in defensive FG% and 19th in 3 point defense.
The Golden State Warriors start their post All-Star break portion of their schedule with the best record in basketball. The Warriors are 42-9 on the year and have an 8.5 game lead over the Clippers in the Pacific Division, while also holding a 4 game lead over Memphis in the chase for the best record in the West. Golden State has gone 15-4-2 ATS in their last 21 home games vs. a team with a winning road record and 34-15-2 ATS in their last 51 home games. The Warriors have been a very good offensive team this year, ranking 1st in scoring (110.6 ppg), 1st in shooting, 2nd in 3 point shooting and 7th in FT shooting. Defensively the Warriors have been average as they come in ranked 15th in points allowed (99.6 ppg), 1st in defensive FG% and 4th in 3 point defense.
Pick: I will look to the Under here. I know the Spurs played last night, but the Under is 6-1 in their last 7 games when they play with no rest. Most of that is Popovich's use of his bench when playing on BB nights and i expect him to use it allot here after the Spurs were involved in a high tempo, high scoring game last night. For the Warriors they may try and run, but I expect a rusty offense from them after being off for so long. The Warriors hold teams to just 41.9% shooting and 98.8 ppg on their home floor, and while the Spurs did allow 119 points last night they still have allowed just 95.8 ppg on the road this year and after last night's dismal defensive showing I really lookfor them to lock it down on defense. This game MAY hit 200 points, but just barely.
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