San Antonio Spurs Roll This Week Without Tony Parker
After the San Antonio Spurs 130-102 victory over the Sacramento Kings last Friday, Spurs fans got really bad news: All-Star point guard Tony Parker would miss four to six weeks with a sprained ankle suffered during the game.
“He’ll be out a while; it’s a good one,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He’s been a stalwart for us. He’s having an All-Star season. As I’ve said, he’s playing better than any other point guard in the league consistently through the year. We will miss him.”
Far and away their best player this year, the loss of Parker seemed like it would be devastating to the Spurs. Who would step up in his place? How could they possibly replace his 15-20 points per game? Well, for this week at least, they found a way, and then some, to pick up the slack.
Vegas certainly didn’t seem to take Parker’s injury into account with their line making, either. In the Spurs first game since losing their star guard, a 114-75 blowout of the lowly Detroit Pistons on Sunday, March 3, the Spurs were 11-point favorites. The oddsmakers could have doubled, almost tripled that number and it still might’ve been too low.
“We moved the ball really well,” the Spurs’ future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan said. “We have to with the lack of Tony’s penetration, the way he does almost every play. We’re going to move the ball and use a lot of pick-and-rolls. We’re going to use a lot of body movement. Hopefully we can take advantage of that and make some shots and make some passes that make easy baskets for us, because we’re going to need it.”
Here were some betting trends between the two teams heading into the game:
Detroit Pistons Trends:
When playing on Sunday are 3-7
Before playing New York are 3-7
After playing New Orleans are 7-3
After a loss are 5-5
San Antonio Spurs Trends:
When playing on Sunday are 7-3
Before playing Chicago are 7-3
After playing Sacramento are 7-3
After a win are 7-3
A few Pistons at Spurs trends to consider:
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Detroit’s last 5 games when playing San Antonio
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Detroit’s last 7 games
Detroit is 8-17 SU in its last 25 games on the road
Detroit is 2-5 SU in its last 7 games when playing San Antonio
The total has gone OVER in 5 of San Antonio’s last 5 games when playing Detroit
San Antonio is 19-1 SU in its last 20 games at home
San Antonio is 18-3 SU in its last 21 games
San Antonio is 14-4 SU in its last 18 games when playing at home against Detroit
The Spurs’ next game in the week was another dominant victory, though this time over a much better opponent. On Wednesday, San Antonio defeated the Chicago Bulls 101-83. The renowned defense and roster depth of the Spurs proved too much for the injury-riddled Bulls; San Antonio’s bench outscored Chicago’s bench 45-18, thanks in large part to Manu Ginobili’s 18 points and increased playing time in the wake of Parker’s injury. A few of the betting trends for the game:
Chicago Bulls Trends:
When playing on Wednesday are 7-3
Before playing Utah are 2-8
After playing Indiana are 7-3
After a loss are 7-3
San Antonio Spurs Trends:
When playing on Wednesday are 8-2
Before playing Portland are 7-3
After playing Detroit are 8-2
After a win are 7-3
A few Bulls at Spurs trends to consider:
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Chicago’s last 5 games when playing on the road against San Antonio
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Chicago’s last 10 games when playing San Antonio
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Chicago’s last 6 games on the road
Chicago is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games when playing San Antonio
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of San Antonio’s last 5 games when playing at home against Chicago
San Antonio is 20-1 SU in its last 21 games at home
San Antonio is 19-3 SU in its last 22 games
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of San Antonio’s last 10 games when playing Chicago
Once again, the Spurs were big favorites, this time by eight points. Of course, they easily covered. Even without their best player, San Antonio is one of the most dominant teams in the league. The rest of the NBA should be very worried come playoff time.
