San Antonio Spurs vs Portland Trail Blazers (-4.5)

The San Antonio Spurs have a tendency to slip under the radar. They've won 11 straight, with 8 of those wins on the road including wins over good teams such as the Oklahoma City Thunder, Philadelphia 76ers, LA Clippers and the Utah Jazz. The Trail Blazers in their last 11 are 4-7, and have lost to teams such as the Lakers, the Clippers, the Wizards (yeah, the Wizards), and the Mavericks. Lamarcus Aldrige was out for a couple games after spraining his ankle in the Washington Wizards game which took away the inside presence for the Blazers but after that loss they won on the road against Golden State, but lost at home the next night against the Clippers. With Lamarcus Aldrige back for the last 4 games the Blazers are 2-2. The Blazers have problems winning on the road, but at home they are 12-5. San Antonio Spurs are still one of the top teams in the west, and have no problems on the road (10-8) and hold the home court down (13-1.) San Antonio wants to go for their 12th straight with Tony Parker playing really good basketball averaging 25.5 PPG, 8.2 APG, and 2.9 RPG but I predict the Portland Trailblazers to end the Spurs winning streak tonight. Nicolas Batum is shooting the ball well averaging 21.8 at 51.2% from the field in his last 5 as a starter. Portland last game went down as much as 30 against the Lakers last game and lost by 11. The Spurs in their last two games won by 7 points combined, playing from behind in the second half. I think the Blazers after the loss to LA, will come home motivated to end the Spurs streak. I'm not too confident in Portland winning by 4.5, so I'll pick them to win straight up. 


Result: I spoke too soon about Portland covering the point spread. Gregg Popovich decided to sit Tim Duncan and Tony Parker for some well deserved rest. Shows that Popovich is coaching a team that sees the bigger picture past the headlines. I only watched the 1st half and went to play ball myself. Being that Portland was up 23 at half, I thought they'd be in a good position to win the game. It turns out the Trailblazers outscored the Spurs 71-54 in the second half for a final score of 137-97 clearing the point spread with ease. 


1-1