Game: San Antonio Spurs @ Oklahoma City Thunder
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Odds: Spurs +9.5, Thunder -9.5
Total: 237
Victor Wembanyama and the visiting San Antonio Spurs take on Chet Holmgren and the Oklahoma City Thunder. The two rookies are the early favorites for the NBA Rookie of the Year award. Both teams are trying to win their first in-season tournament game of this season. While San Antonio’s tournament debut was a loss to Minnesota, Oklahoma City has suffered defeats at the hands of Sacramento and Golden State.
This year’s top draft pick, Wembanyama, has excelled, averaging 19.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.4 blocks per game. In Sunday’s loss to Miami, Wembanyama only shot 8-of-22 from the field, but he did dish out seven assists in addition to his 18 points and 11 rebounds. The Spurs rank second in the NBA with an average of 29.9 assists per game going into Tuesday’s match.
Due to a foot injury, Holmgren, who was selected second overall in the 2022 draft, missed the entire 2022-23 season. So far this year, Holmgren is averaging 16.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 2.3 blocks. The 7-foot-1-inch power forward is a rare talent and coupled with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren makes the Thunder difficult to defend. The Thunder would like to build on making the play-in game in last year’s postseason.
The Thunder have won three of their previous four games, defeating Phoenix 111-99 on Sunday. Gilgeous-Alexander shot 13-of-22 and had a game-high 35 points to lead OKC. Jalen Williams added 31 points on 11-of-16 shooting. The Thunder has a core of solid young players.
The Spurs have dropped their last five games following a 3-2 start. San Antonio’s defensive issues have been among their main concerns. The Spurs have the worst defensive rating in the league with 119.8 points allowed per 100 possessions, and the worst net rating in the league at minus -11.3. It’s hard to win games when the defense is allowing 124.9 points per game. That’s why the Spurs are now 3-7.
This is the first of four meetings between the Spurs and Thunder this season. Last year, the Thunder defeated the Spurs in all three of their meetings. Oklahoma City is also 4-0-1 ATS in the last five games with San Antonio played at home. The Thunder have been one of the better NBA teams against the number in recent history.
OKC is 4-1 ATS in its last five games. The Thunder is 7-3 ATS this season. Last season, OKC finished with the third-highest cover percentage, going 46-35-3 ATS, which is 56.8 percent. Since the beginning of the 2021-22 NBA season, Oklahoma City is 101-68-7 ATS. Their 59.8 percent cover rate is over four points higher than their closest competition.
In addition to being 0-5 SU in their last five games, the Spurs are 1-4 ATS. It’s hard to cover when you’re losing games by an average of over 11 points.
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