Spurs vs. Hornets Gambling Preview From Sportsbook.com

[Qbins Missile Crisis]

NBA: Home sweet home for Spurs

Home bettors are a perfect 5-0 against the spread in the series between the San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Hornets.

The home team has also extremely dominant throughout the second round of the playoffs at 17-1 straight-up and 15-3 ATS



San Antonio tries to keep that trend going and even the series at 3-3 when they host New Orleans as 7 ½-point chalk on Thursday night. The game begins at 9 pm ET and will be televised by ESPN. So far, 75% of the early bettors think the Spurs will cover another home game.

The latest game between these two teams was Tuesday night with New Orleans winning 101-79 at home. The lopsided nature of that final score was surprising as the Spurs had a lot of momentum after winning the prior two games in San Antonio.

The Spurs looked like they might steal one at halftime, leading 47-44. However, New Orleans dominated the 3rd quarter, 28-11. Halftime adjustments have been key for the Hornets in all three games in New Orleans as they’ve outscored San Antonio by a combined 93-46 in the third quarter at home.

Coach Byron Scott has been happy with his team’s play, especially at home, and he’s looking for his young team to get the credit they deserve.

"We've proved all season long we're one of the better teams in the NBA," Scott said. "We had every reason after Games 3 and 4 to fold, but again, being with these guys, they've showed this type of resilience all season, so I'm not surprised."

For Scott’s team to close out the Spurs at home, it’s going to take a huge effort. The Spurs tend to look old on the road, but they’re plenty spry at home, winning the two games in this series by an average margin of 15.5 points. They are also 5-0 overall in the playoffs at home and 3-1-1 ATS.

There’s a couple of important injury notes for this contest. The Hornets’ Tyson Chandler left Game 5 in the 4th quarter with a bruised foot, but he said he’ll be ready for this game. Chandler is very important to the rebounding and defensive efforts of his squad. He helped limit Tim Duncan to just 5-18 shooting in Game 5 and just 44% for the series.

Power forward David West is suffering from a sore back and he received treatment after the game. However, West lit up the Spurs for 38 points in Game 5, and if that’s indicative of a bad back, he’ll surely accept it any time.

West is one of the Wild Cards for this game. He presents a matchup problem at power forward as he’s really too quick and powerful for anyone on the Spurs to guard. The Hornets are 6-1 straight-up in these playoffs when he scores 23 points or more and 1-2 when he doesn’t.

West will need to score around 25 points in this game for New Orleans to have a chance to win.

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