San Antonio (5-5) at Oklahoma City (5-4)
When: Tuesday, January 12th, 2021
Where: Chesapeake Energy Arena,
Oklahoma City, OK
Time: 8:00 ET | TV: NBA Full Court
Opening Odds: San Antonio -2/216.5
The Oklahoma City Thunder are the only team in the NBA that have yet to win a game at home, and will try and snap that streak when they host the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night. In fact, neither team has had much success on their home floor, going a combined 1-6 at home and 9-3 on the road. The Spurs got over the .500 mark with a three-game winning streak that included wins over both L.A. powerhouses, but fell at Minnesota 96-88 on Sunday. It was the second night in a row playing at the Timberwolves after a 125-122 overtime victory on Saturday. The Spurs were without leading scorer DeMar DeRozan in Sunday’s loss while he cares for his sick father in Los Angeles, according to a report.
The Thunder are coming home after a 4-1 East Coast road trip including a 129-116 win at Brooklyn as 8-point underdogs. In fact, they were underdogs in all five games of the trek and the only hiccup was a 118-90 loss at Miami. Oklahoma City will now play four home games in a six-day stretch including matchups against the Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers. The Thunder will also be underdogs in this contest, as the Spurs are 2.5-point favorites with a total set at 216.5. The home team as won eight of the last 10 in this series with the under going 13-6-1 in the last 20 meetings in Oklahoma City.
The Spurs currently have a 2.36 assist-to-turnover ratio, which would set an NBA record if that holds throughout the season. In Sunday’s loss to the T’Wolves, the team still had more than twice as many assists as turnovers. Without DeRozan, Lonnie Walker IV led the way with a season-high 25 points with four assists and two turnovers. LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and nine rebounds, while Patty Mills paced the bench with 18 points, but was just 3-of-13 from three-point territory. The Spurs, who are fourth in the league in shooting the 3-pointer (39.2 percent), were just 8-of-30 in Sunday’s loss (26.7 percent). San Antonio will return home to face the Houston Rockets on Thursday and Saturday.
The Thunder got another big game from rising star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Sunday. The third-year pro out of Kentucky leads the team with 21.0 points per game and had 31 in the win at Brooklyn, while shooting 11-of-16. Gilgeous-Alexander also contributed six rebounds and seven assists and has seven steals in the last three games. Shooting guard Hamidou Diallo had back-to-back 20-point games off the bench, totaling 48 points on 18-of-27 shooting in the wins over the Knicks and Nets. Veteran Al Horford contributed a season-high 22 points on Sunday, while George Hill chipped in 14 points. The Thunder will host the Lakers on Wednesday.
Both teams are playing well right now, but the Spurs will be without DeRozan once again in this one. The home team has dominated the series of late and San Antonio is 0-6 ATS in their last six games as a road favorite. Meanwhile, the Thunder are 6-2 ATS in their last eight home games. I’ll take the home dog here.
Check out who Bobby Babowski has on his Free NBA Picks page for today. He is on a 9-4 run!
Pick: Thunder +2.5
