Celtics Continue Road Trip At San Antonio On Saturday

Boston Celtics at San Antonio Spurs
NBA Betting Preview
Date: 12/15/2012 at 8:30 p.m. (ET)
Opening Lines: San Antonio -8, O/U 199
(click for latest NBA odds)
Television: NBATV

Boston Celtics: The Celtics (12-9 straight-up, 8-11-2 against the spread) started their three-game road trip with a Friday tussle at Houston (result pending). They’re a respectable 3-3 SU and 2-3-1 ATS in the second half of a back-to-back despite having three starters (Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry) age 35 or older. Boston is allowing far more points (97.5 per game, ranked 16th) than the last couple of years, but the defensive results have been better the last seven games (92.4 ppg) even with two going into OT. Jeff Green has picked up his scoring the last six games (15.8 ppg), and he’s needed for instant offense as the sixth man. Coach Doc Rivers’ guys have only played five road games since Nov. 15, and the results haven’t been pretty (1-4 SU, 0-3-1 ATS.

San Antonio Spurs: The Spurs (18-6 SU, 15-8-1 ATS) were red-hot before road losses at Utah (99-96) on Wednesday and Portland (98-90) on Thursday. Both games easily went "under" the total after the "over" was 11-3 in their prior 14, scoring a whopping 111.2 ppg. It’s also the first two-game losing streak for the team this year. Coach Gregg Popovich’s players now get a day rest after the four-game trip and return home, where their record is 7-2 SU and 5-3-1 ATS. There could be a boost to the lineup as well with forward Kawhi Leonard (knee) questionable after missing 15 games (click for updated NBA injury report). These teams met in Boston back on Nov. 21 with the Spurs winning 112-100 as small 1 ½-point road favorites. The road team has dominated the series overall at 9-1-1 ATS in the last 11, with Boston 5-0 SU and ATS in the last five in San Antonio.

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