Spurs vs. Blazers Preview
Portland, OR (AP) – The San Antonio Spurs begin a nine-game road trip with the league’s best record and a comfortable lead atop the Southwest Division, but they aren’t taking anything for granted.
The Spurs look to snap a four-game losing streak in Portland on Tuesday night when they visit the Trail Blazers, who will be trying to avoid their first three-game home skid in nearly three years.
According to NBA odds and oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com have made the Spurs 5.5-point spread favorites for Tuesday’s game against the Trail Blazers. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that 87% of more than 334 bets for this game have been placed on the Spurs –5.5.
While San Antonio (40-7) typically uses this annual road trip, which occurs when the rodeo takes over the AT&T Center, to work out problems, there aren’t many visible weaknesses with the Spurs. They have won three straight and 11 of 12 while reaching 40 victories in the fewest games in franchise history.
“You keep competing, executing and trying to improve,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “It doesn’t matter if you have the best record or the worst record.”
The road trip, which lasts until Feb. 17, begins in Portland, where the Spurs have dropped four straight. However, they beat the Trail Blazers 95-78 at home Dec. 12, snapping a five-game overall losing streak in the series.
San Antonio also begins the stretch after an impressive 108-95 win over Houston on Saturday. Manu Ginobili scored 22 points while DeJuan Blair added 14 points and 12 rebounds. Every Spurs starter scored in double figures.
“It’s just such an honor to be on this team, on this quest for greatness, and we’ve just got to keep it going,” Blair said.
The Spurs are looking to improve on a 15-5 road record. Tim Duncan said defense will be the team’s biggest focus during this trip.
San Antonio is allowing opponents to average 99.9 points on the road compared to 94.7 at home. In its last two road games – both wins – it gave up more than 100 points.
“It’s goal No. 1 all the time,” Duncan said. “We’ve been a little lacking on that. Obviously we’ve been winning games and that’s great in that respect but it comes down to the end of the season, the playoffs, we want to be as best defensively as possible.”
The recent meetings between San Antonio and Portland have been defensive battles with neither team cracking 100 points in the last five contests. The Spurs haven’t reached the century mark against the Blazers since a 100-79 victory Dec. 2, 2007, a span of nine games.
However, it’s Portland (25-22) that has struggled offensively its last two games, losing 96-81 to Sacramento on Jan. 24 and falling 88-78 to Boston on Thursday. The Blazers have shot 38.1 percent in those games.
Portland made only two of its first 12 shots in the fourth quarter Thursday to fall behind 78-63 before a late rally fell short. LaMarcus Aldridge, who suffered a bruised hip against the Kings, finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds while Wesley Matthews had 12 points, although he shot just 4 of 15.
“We were in the game this whole time, but it felt like we were down by 40,” Matthews told the Blazers’ official website.
The injury-riddled Blazers received another scare when forward Nicolas Batum left the game with a sore hip in the second quarter. However, an MRI revealed no damage except for a contusion. Batum, who is averaging 11.8 points and 4.8 rebounds, is day-to-day.
Tuesday ends a five-game homestand for Portland, which hasn’t lost three in a row at the Rose Garden since March 29-April 6, 2008.
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