With Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen both on the bench because of injuries, Boston has found the going tough lately. They’ve gone 5 and 5 straight-up in their last 10 games and 1 and 9 ATS.
Well, things aren’t going to get easier for the Celtics on Friday night when they travel to San Antonio to take on the Spurs. The Spurs beat Minnesota by 7 points in their last game with Duncan on the bench. The Spurs will definitely be without Manu Ginobili and might be without Tim Duncan. What looked like a sure fire ratings buster Friday night game for the NBA has suddenly become an afterthought for a lot of NBA fans.
This is especially true if Duncan doesn’t play. Even though he’s listed as questionable, Coach Greg Popovich might keep Tim on the bench on Friday night for the simple fact that the Spurs have Houston coming up on Sunday.
All of these injuries might make it difficult for gamblers to find a suitable wager. Before we get into that, let’s just take a look at a few stats that hopefully will help us make sense of this strange Friday night game.
The Boston Celtics are 34 and 35 ATS overall.
The Boston Celtics are 17 and 18 against the spread on the road.
The San Antonio Spurs are 34-31-2 ATS overall.
The San Antonio Spurs are 15-17-1 against the spread at home.
The Spurs are the home team and even without Duncan, let’s say Pop does keep Tim on the bench, they’ve been installed as the -6 ½ points favorites against the spread.
Boston just isn’t as good of a team without Kevin Garnett. Whatever important trends bettors used to bet on or against the Celtics earlier this season means nothing after looking at the Celtics last ten games.
The Celtics have gone 0 and 6 ATS in their last six games. The Celtics have gone 1 and 9 ATS in their last 10 games. Among the team the Celtics have failed to cover the spread against are Miami twice, Chicago, Milwaukee, Indiana, Memphis and New Jersey. That’s not a who’s who of NBA juggernauts.
Oddly enough their lone cover was a victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 6th.
Boston just isn’t the same team. Even without Duncan, the Spurs are just too tough defensively for Boston to deal with. Boston’s two main offensive players with both Allen and Garnett on the bench will be Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce. The Spurs will counter with Tony Parker on Rondo and a slew of terrific role players, Fabricio Oberto, Michael Finley, Kurt Thomas and Bruce Bowen, on Pierce.
I just don’t see Boston being able to beat the Spurs on the road ore even come close to the 6 ½ points in the sportsbook.
I’m gong to bet the Spurs to cover the -6 ½ points in the sportsbook.