NBA Betting – San Antonio Spurs at Brooklyn Nets

San Antonio Spurs (-8.5, 195 o/u) at Brooklyn Nets

After a slow start, it’s back to business-as-usual for the San Antonio Spurs (12-4), the defending NBA champs. The Spurs have won eight games in a row and will look to make it nine tonight when they meet an up-and-down Brooklyn Nets team (7-9) at the Barclays Center (7:30 p.m. Eastern).

Despite playing away from home, the champs are the heavy favorites, currently sitting at -8.5 in the spread.

The Spurs have an efficient offense that moves the ball well, but the real strength of the team is on the defensive end of the floor. The Spurs are third in the league in points against, surrendering just 93.1 PPG. In light of their solid D, the over/under is at a relatively low 195.

Kawhi Leonard, the MVP of the 2014 NBA finals, has continued his strong play at both ends of the floor this season. The San Diego State product is averaging just over 15 points and seven rebounds per game, second on the team in both categories. He also leads the team with nearly two steals per game. Tim Duncan is holding the fort down low, averaging 14 points and nearly ten boards per night.

Danny Green is improving his production for San Antonio in the last couple of weeks. Green was key in last Sunday’s win over the Celtics with 18 points.

Meanwhile, the Nets have gotten decent production from their go-to players, with Deron Williams averaging 17.9 points and 6.3 assists per game and Joe Johnson adding 16.4 per night. Not unexpectedly, Kevin Garnett has looked old and slow all season, averaging just under 25 minutes and only 7.3 points per night. It will largely be up to Brook Lopez to contain Duncan in the post.

After a five-game losing streak put the Nets at 4-7, the team has rebounded with three wins in five contests. However, they haven’t been able to trump any top teams, prevailing over the lowly Knicks, Sixers, and Thunder (without Westbrook and Durant).

San Antonio has won eight of the last ten meetings against Brooklyn, including the last meeting just 11 days ago (99-87 in San Antonio). Tony Parker is probable for tonight’s game. With Patty Mills on the shelf, Parker’s absence could be a real problem, especially for bettors with the Spurs laying 8.5 points. If Parker can’t go, the ball-handling duties would likely fall to Cory Joseph, for the most part, who averages just 18 minutes per game.

If the Frenchman does suit up, expect the Spurs to pull out the win.

(Photo credit: Keith Allison (Flickr: Deron Williams) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)