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The San Antonio Spurs opened the season with a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, but it has been a dominant run ever since. The Spurs will look to exact a measure of revenge and extend their lengthy home winning streak when they host the Thunder on Saturday in the first meeting since the season-opening encounter in Oklahoma.
San Antonio opened its five-game homestand with a 109-101 victory over Chicago on Thursday to improve to 31-0 at AT&T Center this season and extend its home winning streak to 40 games dating to last season. One more victory at home will give the Spurs sole possession of the third-longest run in NBA history as they enter this one tied with the Orlando Magic of the mid-1990s and four behind the Chicago Bulls of the same era. A meeting on the back end of the homestand with the Golden State Warriors - who pulled into Friday with an NBA-record 46 straight home wins and a three-game lead on San Antonio in the Western Conference - is looming, but the Spurs must first contend with what could be an angry Thunder squad. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined for 54 points but their teammates provided little support in a home loss to Minnesota on Friday, Oklahoma City's seventh defeat in 11 games.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC
LINE HISTORY: The Spurs opened as eight point favorites at home and by early Saturday morning that line was already adjusted to -8.5. The total opened at 213 on Friday afternoon, wobbled throughout the evening, began falling overnight, and settled in at 210.5 near mid-morning on Saturday.
INJURY REPORT:
Thunder - SG D. Waiters (Questionable Saturday, personal)
SG A. Robinson (Questionable Saturday, ankle)
Spurs - No injuries to report.
COVERS POWER RANKINGS: Thunder (-9.7) - Spurs (-16.4) + home court (-3) = Spurs -9.7
DANCE TEAM WAR:
- Pick:
- Wichita St.
- Capper:
- SPS Investors
- Start:
- March 17, 2016 - 9:20 PM
- Offered at:
- allyoubet @ 1.5 -110 Wichita St.
- Analysis:
This is a 1* Pick on Wichita State
The Wichita State Shockers are a legitimate dark-horse in this tournament yet again. They have an extra added chip on their shoulders this year being forced to play a "First four" play-in game against Vanderbilt, a game that the Shockers won by 20 points. We expect they will use that motivation to fuel their fire in this matchup with Arizona.
Let's not forget that this is the same Shocker team that reached the Sweet 16 last season and Final 4 in 2013 so they have a ton of experience in this atmosphere. Both Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet were key members of both of those appearances and are the unquestioned leaders of this team. While the Shockers are perennial contenders in this tournament, this is a much different looking Shockers team than in the past. This season the team has seemingly re-invented themselves and is now getting things done on the defensive end. They rank number one in the nation in points allowed (59.0ppg) and number three in field goal percentage defense (38.2%). Baker leads the Shockers with 14.2 points per game, while VanVleet adds 12. 1 points and 5.7 assists per game.
Wichita State brings a ton of tournament experience with them in this contest which we don't believe the oddsmakers have correctly valued. Arizona is a quality team and won't go down without a fight, but we simply believe the Shockers have more ways to win this basketball game. The Shockers will pull away late in the second half and their defense will make the critical stops needed to advance to the round of 32 yet again.
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