NBA Basketball
2013-02-06 - San Antonio Spurs at Minnesota Timberwolves
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States: NBA Basketball
Wednesday 6 February 2013 - Tip Off 9pm
2am (British Time)
Preview
Both of these teams have been suffering through some injuries in the last couple of weeks, but one keeps rolling and the other has been stunted.
The San Antonio Spurs (38-11) begin their annual rodeo trip with a visit to the Minnesota Timberwolves (18-27) and will look to continue their recent dominance of this series. The Spurs should be plenty confident as they have kept moving forward despite injuries and have now won 10 in a row.
Tim Duncan was the big injury concern, but he seems to have escaped a major problem and should be able to rejoin the squad at some point before the All-Star break. While Duncan was at shoot-around on Monday, there is a big doubt that he would be involved here even if Stephen Jackson thinks otherwise.
The Spurs may also be missing Manu Ginobili for this one, but their roster is full of depth and talent and they will still have faith they can get this road trip off to a good start. Last season they were 8-1 during this trip and have not had a losing record over the last ten seasons when going on this extended road journey.
While San Antonio keep fighting through their injury concerns, Minnesota have dropped 12 of their last 14 games and haven't been able to get anything going without Kevin Love. The absence of the All-Star is huge for the Timberwolves as they haven't beaten San Antonio since 2007 without him.
Andrei Kirilenko is another player that looks set to miss out after he suffered an injury against Portland in their last game. Dante Cunningham will come into the starting line up in place of the Russian and he has been on fire from the field in his last couple of games. However, the short-handed Timberwolves look in a tough spot in this one.
Head to Head
Minnesota beat San Antonio twice at home last season to snap a 16 game losing run in the series, but it has been more of the same this season with one blow out loss against the Spurs in Texas.
The Timberwolves are 3-1 against the spread in their last 4 home games against the Spurs.
Prediction
Out of the two teams, San Antonio have coped with their injury problems much better and it hasn't seen them miss a step in their bid to finish with the best record in the Western Conference again.
The Spurs are missing a key player like the Timberwolves, but they have a better roster depth and I look for them to get back to winning ways in this Arena after losing on their last two visits.
The Pick :
Minnesota Timberwolves 93-100 San Antonio Spurs
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll back the San Antonio Spurs - 4.5 Points @ 1.95
