Dull Spurs
San Antonio,Tx – Since a scoring outburst earlier this month, the San Antonio Spurs have struggled through two of their worst offensive nights of the season in back-to-back road losses.
Hoping a matchup against the struggling Toronto Raptors will help, the Spurs return home Saturday looking to avoid matching their longest losing streak of the season.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com have made the Spurs -9.5 point spread favorites for Wednesday’s game against the Raptors. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that 68% of more than 278 bets for this game have been placed on the Spurs -9.5.
San Antonio (15-10) won a season-high six straight from Dec. 4-14, averaging 106.1 points during that stretch – 10 points higher than its season average. In the two games since, though, it’s shot a combined 38.1 percent from the field, losing 90-83 to New Orleans on Wednesday and 90-78 to Orlando on Thursday.
Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 19 points and nine rebounds against the Magic. Tony Parker was a dismal 3-of-17 from the field for nine points.
Parker had scored 20-plus points in his previous two games – his first back-to-back 20-point games since before being sidelined nine games for a left ankle sprain.
"We have been up and down," Duncan said. "We are getting healthy and getting our guys back. We went on a little roll there and now we have lost two in a row. We just have to regroup. We know it is a long season so we will keep playing through it."
The last two losses for the Spurs have come against teams with winning records, but they now play six of their next seven against teams with records below .500, with five contests at home.
San Antonio is trying to avoid losing three straight for the first time since opening the season 0-3.
"We are nowhere close to where we want to be," Duncan said. "We will use all 82 games to hopefully get everything right and go into the playoffs feeling right."
San Antonio begins this stretch against a Raptors (10-16) team that is coming off an embarrassing 91-82 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday. The league-worst Thunder came in having lost 11 in a row at home, but they held Toronto to 36.4 percent shooting as the Raptors blew a nine-point fourth-quarter lead.
Chris Bosh had 22 points and Andrea Bargnani added 16. They were the only two players to finish in double figures as Toronto lost its fourth straight and fell to 2-7 since Jay Triano replaced Sam Mitchell as coach Dec. 3.
"We have to keep working and believing in our team," guard Jose Calderon said. "I know it is tough.
"This wasn’t our best game. It was one of our worst."
Since Triano took over, the Raptors have averaged 91.9 points and have failed to score 90 in four of those games, including the last three.
Jermaine O’Neal, who left Friday’s game with a sore left shoulder, said he expects to play at San Antonio. O’Neal is Toronto’s third-leading scorer, averaging 12.6 points. He came into Friday’s game averaging 17.3 points on 54.1 percent shooting in the three previous contests.
Toronto and San Antonio split their two meetings last season, but the Spurs have won 12 of the last 16 overall and six of the last seven at home.
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Posted: 12/20/08 1:55 AM ET