Whoever made the NBA schedule was a tricky fellow, especially when it comes to the Spurs. Through the middle of January, San Antonio will see both ends of the spectrum. Unfortunately for them, they will have to face the weaker grouping before the elite. In other words, they won’t need to up their game before facing the best the league has to offer.
Thus far this season, San Antonio has shown that they are one of the best in the league yet again. The most incredible thing about that thus far, is that there are no Spurs players in the NBA’s top ten for any of the major stats. Points per game, assists, three pointers, rebounds, you name it. The only players to rank in the top ten in the most relevant stat categories are Tony Parker for Field Goal Percentage (7th with .528) and Kawhi Leonard for Steals Per Game (9th with 1.95).
They’re clearly winning as a team and there isn’t one guy standing out above the rest. The team’s easy streak in January has them meeting the Phoenix Suns and LA Lakers before the real tests begin. NBA betting site topbet.eu had the Spurs as -16 point favorites over Phoenix on Thursday, followed by an even bigger spread against the Lakers on Friday.
Once San Antonio’s picnic games are over, they have road games in Golden State, Houston and Cleveland. The team hasn’t had the chance to face the conference rival Warriors or Eastern Conference favorite Cavaliers yet. Although they have met once with Houston on Christmas Day, losing to the Rockets 88-84.
The Spurs have been a total feel good story since the Golden State undefeated streak inevitably came to an end. They’re an aging team that added a younger core to sustain itself for years. Not to mention they’ve now won 32-straight games at home.
It seemed that everyone had written them off after their last championship in 2014, but they’re still very much in the picture and 2016 may be their year again. They are favored to win their division by a landslide and they are runner-up favorites to Golden State for the Western Conference and NBA title.
This Spurs road swing will definitely be something to keep an eye on and don’t be surprised if their odds are very different this time next month.
The Spurs just played Cleveland. And they also played Houston after the Christmas game. So some of the comments in this story make no sense at all. And also Kawhi is one of the leaders in 3 point percentage. That’s another mistake.