San Antonio Spurs (17-3) at Golden State Warriors (11-9), 10:30 pm Eastern Tuesday
by Zman of Predictem.com
The highest-scoring team in the league goes up against one of the best defensive squads around when the Golden State Warriors play host to the San Antonio Spurs in Oakland Tuesday night.
NBA Sportsbooks have San Antonio posted as three-point road favorites for Tuesday’s game, with a total of 213. Also, the Spurs are listed at anywhere from -140 to -165 on various moneylines, with Golden State getting from +130 to +145 as home underdogs.
Defending league champion San Antonio has won five games in a row and 10 of its last 11 after beating Utah last Friday 104-98. So the Spurs, owners of the best record in the Western Conference, sit atop the Southwest Division, 3 games ahead of the second-place New Orleans Hornets.
Golden State lost its last outing, a 123-113 decision to the Los Angeles Lakers Sunday, but has won 11 of its last 14 games. So the Warriors sit in third place in the Pacific Division, four games back of the first-place Phoenix Suns.
Golden State leads the league in scoring at 110 points per game. On the other side of this match-up, San Antonio ranks third in the league by holding opponents to just 93 points per game.
The Spurs have dominated the series with the Warriors in recent years, winning 33 of the last 38 meetings between the two teams, including three of four games last season. Golden State beat San Antonio by nine points in their first meeting last season, but the Spurs went on to win the final three games vs. the Warriors by 40, 37 and 13 points, covering spreads of 8, 5 and 10 as favorites in those last three meetings. San Antonio out-rebounded Golden State in all four games last season, and out-shot the Warriors from the field 51% to 42%.
This is the first meeting between these two teams this season.
The Spurs are 12-7 against the spread so far this season, 5-3 straight up and 4-4 ATS on the road.
The Warriors are 10-10 vs. the numbers this season, and 5-5 both SU and against the spread at home.
San Antonio owns a +9 average points-per-game margin, which ranks second in the league, while Golden State ranks 12th at +2.2 ppg.
The Spurs are shooting 48% from the floor as a team this season, 41% from 3-points range (which ranks 2nd in the league), and 77% from the free-throw line.
The Warriors are shooting 45% from the field, 35% from long range and 72% from the line.
And both teams are allowing their opponents to shoot 46.5% from the floor.
But while San Antonio is out-rebounding foes by .9 per game, which ranks 14th in the league, Golden State is getting out-boarded by 5.2 per game, which ranks 29th.
The Spurs have played without C Tim Duncan their last two games, and won both, over Dallas and Utah. Duncan has been bothered by a bad wheel, but is listed as probable for Tuesday night’s game.
The Sagarin PREDICTOR ratings at USAToday.com ranks San Antonio 2nd at 98.0, the Warriors 11th at 92.7.
The totals are 11-9 in Spurs games this season, which are averaging 194 points per, while the o/u is 12-8 in Golden State games, which are averaging 219 points.
Zman’s Pick: Spurs/Warriors UNDER 213.
