Atlanta Hawks at San Antonio Spurs Betting Preview
Opening Line: Hawks +3.5 / Spurs -3.5 O/U 195
Time: 8:30 PM EST Wednesday January 27, 2010 on FOX SW
Tonight in the Lone Star State the slumping San Antonio Spurs host the streaking Atlanta Hawks. After playing some great basketball and coming close to overtaking the Dallas Mavericks in the Southeast Division the Spurs have hit a snag, as they have lost 3 in a row, are only 4-6 in their last 10 games, and currently trail the Mavs by 4 games. The opposite goes for the Hawks, who have won 3 in row, are a legit 8-2 in their last 10, and are in 1st place in the Southeast Division 1 game ahead of the Orlando Magic.
This season the Spurs are 17-9 at home and 21-21-1 ATS and the Hawks are 11-9 on the road and a NBA best 29-14 ATS.
In their last games the Spurs lost to the Chicago Bulls 98-93 on Monday night while the Hawks beat the Houston Rockets 102-95 also on Monday.
The Hawks have lost 11 straight games in San Antonio and the Spurs look to avoid their first 4-game home losing streak since 2002 with a win tonight.
The Spurs have had trouble scoring recently, as in their last 6 games they are only averaging 93.2 ppg and their D has also not been playing well.
Richard Jefferson (12.5 ppg) has not been the player the Spurs had hoped for when they shelled out some big cash for him in the off-season, as he is averaging 7 points than he did last season.
Tim Duncan (19.8 ppg) has been a rock for the Spurs this season, but in his last 3 games he has only averaged shooting 38.1% from the floor.
Al Horford (13.8 ppg 9.8 rpg) and Josh Smith (15.1 ppg 8.3 rpg) have to play well on the boards tonight, especially on Duncan (10.4 rpg), as the Spurs have been a much better team on the glass this season with a rebounding differential of +3.4 rpg while the Hawks are only at +0.2 rpg.
The Hawks rank 7th in the league in scoring (102.9 ppg) and they like to get out and run so the Spurs have to slow them down, as if this is an up-tempo game Atlanta may snap their losing streak in San Antonio.
Mike Bibby has a tough task tonight, as he has to keep Tony Parker (17.1 ppg) from having a big scoring game and from penetrating into the lane and dishing out the rock.
Atlanta is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games, 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games as a road underdog, and the total has gone Under in 13 of their last 18 games as a road underdog. San Antonio is 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games, 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games against teams with a winning record, and the total has gone Under in 5 of their last 6 games against teams that have a winning road record.
Our Selection : The Spurs after putting a respectable 17-6 record at home over their first 23 games have now lost 3 consecutive SU and ATS and have only covered 1 of their last 6 games.. They now take on the Hawks who have won 6 of their last 7 overall and are one of only 6 teams in the NBA that has a winning record on the road. Take Atlanta +3.5
Future Betting Odds
NBA Handicapping
Orlando Magic at Boston Celtics 5-28
The Magic have won 2 games in a row in this series and look to tie the series tonight, as the Boston Celtics hosts Orlando in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. The Magic have got back in this series and look to become the first team ever in the NBA to come back from a 3-0 deficit. The Celtics are small 3.5 point favorite at Bodog tonight when they try to close out this series at home.