GordoPockets

By the numbers, the Celtics and the Hornets are the epitome of average. Both teams are hovering around .500 on the season, home, away, and ATS. But those numbers tell a very different story for each team. Charlotte has been able to avoid injury this season as no player in the starting lineup has missed more than three games. Although Boston has avoided major injury concerns several starters have missed multiple games this year, most recently Isaiah Thomas for the past four games.

For tonight’s game Thomas is back for the Celtics, but Charlotte will be without their starting guard Kemba Walker. This doesn’t bode well for the Hornets who don’t carry many guards especially with the quickness of Thomas, Smart, and Bradley. With this, Boston should be able to drive to the basket in similar fashion to Washington two nights ago.

Charlotte has continued their average play recently whereas Boston is 1-4 in their last 5. However, those losses all came against some of the NBA’s best; @Houston, Toronto, @OKC, and @San Antonio. The Celtics were in all four of those losses with a chance to win late into the fourth quarter. The Celtics 13-12 record is much better than it seems on paper considering their top 6 SOS. Charlotte is in the bottom quarter of the league in SOS and have lost three straight on the road AND are now without Walker.

With the Celtics physical style of play they are not going to blow out their opponents, but tonight they should win by at least seven.Most of the Hornets offensive production tonight will run through Batum without Walker on the court. This is going to force the Hornets to rely heavily on their bench where they already receive 39% of their points from; and that’s with Walker in the lineup.

Regardless of what their records show, the Celtics are the much better team and should be plenty motivated returning to their home court with their best player. Also, for what it’s worth, Boston is 9-3 with both Thomas and Horford in the starting lineup this year, while just 4-9 when they are not together.The play is the CELTICS -7 tonight….

The Spurs are on a back to back tonight, a spot that has been favorable this season considering their 5-1 SU and 4-2 ATS record. Normally people like to fade teams on back to backs because they are perceived to be tired from travel or less prepared. Sure they will travel with no rest day in between games. But the Spurs previous game before last night was 12/10 which gave them 3 days of rest before playing this back to back.

The Spurs also have the benefit of playing one of the deepest benches in the NBA, although the number is a little skewed with Ginobili coming off the bench. A strong bench nonetheless. Couple that with the fact that Aldridge was given the night off, and the back to back is very manageable.

While Phoenix had last night off, their previous two games went into overtime. The last overtime game vs the Knicks was played without Alex Len and TJ Warren who hasn’t played in a while. Len, Warren, and now Knight are all questionable for tonight’s game.

Now that we know who’s tired and who isn’t…. Let’s look at the actual game….

Phoenix’s entire game is based on the fast break and creating turnovers. That is something that bodes well for San Antonio. Two things that San Antonio does well are limiting turnovers on offensive and transitioning well in defense. The Spurs are in the bottom third in the league in offensive rebounding, and this is by design as coach Popovich believes in transitioning back on defense, game planning against easy baskets. (The Spurs are always in the bottom third in this category)

The Spurs will let this game come to them as they will wait for Phoenix to turn the ball over on the break. This will lead to easy baskets for San Antonio as the game progresses. The Spurs may start off slow but will ultimately win this game by double digits. This game is a huge step up in class for a young Suns team.The play is the SPURS -7.

People are taking the Spurs because the Bulls have been playing terribly over the last week...

And stop saying public, anyone that says "public" is a piker.