david banks
January 24, 2014
San Antonio Spurs vs. Atlanta Hawks
The San Antonio Spurs (32-10, 21-21 ATS) will have to try and shake off yet
another home loss to one of the teams that they are battling for the top
seed in the West as they venture east to visit the Atlanta Hawks (22-19, 22-19
ATS) at Philips Arena Friday at 7:35 ET. Entering play on Thursday, the
Spurs were the second seeds in the Western Conference, one-half game behind the
Thunder and one game ahead of the third-seeded Trail Blazers. The Haws
meanwhile were the third seeds in the considerably weaker Eastern Conference,
although no threat to the top two trailing the top seeds from Indiana by 11
games and Miami by 7.
The Spurs may be 32-10, but while they have been beating up on the
lightweights of the league, they have had uncharacteristic difficulty with the
better teams. In fact, they lost here at home to the Thunder on Wednesday and to
the Blazers last Friday, as they were unable to get some separation from
those teams in two golden chances in their own building, thus now actually
falling behind Oklahoma City by virtue of Wednesday's loss. That loss also
leaves the Spurs at 7-9 this season vs. teams currently ranked in the Sagarin Top
10, while they are 25-1 against the rest of the league losing only to the
Knicks! Well, the Hawks are 14th on Sagarin, which bodes well for the Spurs.
What does not bode well is the recent play of the San Antonio defense, which
is allowing 100.4 points per game on 46.4 percent shooting over the last
five games. That is not encouraging while visiting an Atlanta team averaging
105.4 points on 47.0 percent shooting in that same five-game span. The Spurs
have been just fine offensively though, ranking sixth in the NBA this season
with their 104.8 points per game overall.
And the Hawks may not offer much resistance with a defense ranked 18th in
points against at 101.3 points per game overall and that has seen that
average rise to a distressing 107.6 points the last five games. The Hawks have
managed to win their last two games though despite that shoddy defense, first
upsetting the defending champion Heat here at home 121-114 in a game they
incredibly lead 71-70 at halftime for the highest scoring first half in the NBA
this season, and then following that up with a 112-109 road win at Orlando.
That brings the 'over' to 25-16-1 in all Atlanta games this season, which
is not surprising given the Hawks' offensive and defensive numbers.
Furthermore these teams went 'over' the first time they met this season in San
Antonio, and the San Antonio defense took a hit on Wednesday when Kawhi Leonard,
one of the team's best perimeter defenders, was lost for at least one month
with a fractured hand. The Spurs could feel that loss here vs. an Atlanta
club ranked eighth in the NBA in overall field goal percentage at 46.1 percent.
The 'over' is 18-7-1 in the Spurs' last 26 games following an ATS loss,
8-2-1 in their last 11 games vs. the Eastern Conference and 5-1 in their last
six road games. The 'over' is also 4-0 in the Hawks' last four games overall,
12-2 in their last 14 games after allowing 100 points or more in their
previous game and 8-2 in their last 10 games following a straight up win.
PICK: OVER 207.5