NBA Betting – San Antonio Spurs at Minnesota Timberwolves

San Antonio Spurs (-8, 199.5 o/u) at Minnesota Timberwolves

The San Antonio Spurs got off to a slow start this season, but seem to have turned a corner. The Spurs are 7-4 on the year, but have won five of their last six, including a thrilling 92-90 comeback win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in their last outing. The competition eases up a bit tonight, as the Spurs head to Minnesota to face a young, 3-7 Timberwolves team at the Target Centre (8:00 p.m. Eastern).

The slow start has the Spurs sitting fourth (out of five) in the uber-strong Southwest Division. While there is still a lot of basketball to be played, don’t expect the other teams in the Southwest to experience much of a decline. It will be tough sledding all year for the Spurs and their division-mates, and earning home-court advantage throughout the playoffs will be nigh impossible for any of them.

Spurs superstar Tim Duncan has said that the slow start was due to a lack of rhythm, from himself in particular. “We are missing a couple of pieces … we are still a work in progress, we have guys that are still out of rhythm, myself especially. But all in all I think we are getting the rhythm,” said Duncan.

The Spurs certainly looked in rhythm against Cleveland, especially in the second-half, and they will have a good chance to get even more rhythmic tonight against a Timberwolves team that gives up 108 points per game (worst in the NBA).

While the San Antonio offense has taken some time to find its form this year, the defense has been stout all season. The Spurs are third in the league in points allowed, surrendering just 91.6 per game. Stats-wise, the T-Wolves have a decent offense, averaging 102 points per game; but they have been held at bay by other solid defenses this year, managing just 92 points against the Heat and 91 against the Pelicans.

Minnesota had lost six straight before thumping the Knicks on Wednesday, 115-99. Although Minnesota is playing at home, where they are 2-2 on the year, the T-Wolves are eight-point dogs to the defending NBA champs.

(Photo credit. By Keith Allison from Owings Mills, USA (Tim Duncan) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)