NBA Playoff Betting Preview
New Orleans Hornets at San Antonio Spurs (Hornets lead 2-0)
Thursday, 9:35 pm Eastern – ESPN

SBG Global Opening Line: Spurs  - 6.5, Total  183

The San Antonio Spurs face what is probably a must win game on Thursday against the New Orleans Hornets.  The Spurs were dominated in the first two games at New Orleans and now the series goes to San Antonio.  “They say you’re supposed to win all your home games. The series doesn’t start until the home team loses,” New Orleans’ Chris Paul said, “We understand their backs are against the wall right now but we’ve got to go in there and understand we really need to steal a game.” SBG Global reports that early NBA betting has the public taking Spurs at Home.

The Hornets have shown they can beat the defending NBA Champs and now they will try and take a game in San Antonio.  The Spurs must take care of the ball better and get Tim Duncan more involved if they are to turn things around. “It sounds, like, easy, but we just have to play better,” Tony Parker said. “They just outplayed us the first two games and now we’re playing at home and we have to make more shots and play better defense.” The Spurs will need to play smarter and show that they are hungry to defend their title. So far in this series that has not happened.

SBG Global Current Line: Spurs  - 6.5, Total  183.5

Here are the NBA betting stats for Thursday’s game. The Hornets are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 vs. the Southwest. The Hornets are 43-20-1 ATS in their last 64 games overall. The Hornets are 21-10 ATS in their last 31 games as an underdog. The Hornets are 1-9 ATS in their last 10 Thursday games.

The Spurs are 14-3-2 ATS in their last 19 playoff games as a favorite. The Spurs are 6-2-1 ATS in their last 9 games as a home favorite. The Spurs are 4-9-1 ATS in their last 14 games overall. The Spurs are 2-7 ATS in their last 9 Thursday games. The home team is 4-0 ATS in the last 4 meetings between the two teams and the favorite is 9-4 ATS in the last 13 meetings.

The Under is 5-0-1 in the Hornets last 6 playoff games as an underdog. The Over is 7-1-1 in the Hornets last 9 Conference Semifinals games. The Over is 5-1 in the Hornets last 6 Thursday games. The Under is 4-1 in the Hornets last 5 road games. The Over is 7-3 in the Hornets last 10 games as a road underdog.

The Over is 4-1 in the Spurs last 5 games as a favorite. The Over is 7-2-1 in the Spurs last 10 overall. The Under is 10-4 in the Spurs last 14 Thursday games. The Over is 12-5-1 in the Spurs last 18 Conference Semifinals games. The Over is 7-3 in the last 10 meetings in San Antonio between the two teams.

Pick: 6.5 is just too many to give the Hornets. Hornets +6.5 3units

NBA Playoff Betting Preview
San Antonio Spurs at New Orleans Hornets (Game One)
Saturday, 10:00 pm Eastern – TNT

SBG Global Opening Line: Hornets  - 3.5 , Total  183.5

The New Orleans Hornets will face the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs in game one of the best of seven Western Conference semifinals on Saturday night.  The Hornets took out the Dallas Mavericks easily in the first round while the Spurs dispatched of the Phoenix Suns in five games in their opening series. SBG Global reports that early NBA betting has the public taking Spurs on the Road.

The matchup in this series should be intriguing as the Spurs are the league’s oldest and most experienced team with 11 players in their 30s. They have star players in Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.  New Orleans has eight players who are under the age of 30.  Their stars are league MVP candidate Chris Paul and David West.  The two teams look very evenly matched in this series.  They finished the season with identical 56-26 records and they split their four head-to-head meetings.  The reason New Orleans got the higher seed was based on their superior conference record but that was only by one game.

SBG Global Current Line: Hornets  - 3, Total  183.5

The matchups in this series should be excellent.  It will be Chris Paul against Tony Parker in the backcourt.  At the small forward it is Peja Stojakovic against Bruce Bowen and at power forward it is David West against Tim Duncan. Those three matchups are the key to the series.  The one advantage New Orleans may have is off the bench. Jannero Pargo was excellent in the first round against Dallas and Julian Wright also played well.  Technically Ginobili comes off the bench for San Antonio but that is only for appearance.  He is a starter and one of the Spurs most important players.

Here are the NBA betting stats for Saturday’s game.  The Spurs are 20-8 ATS in their last 28 games playing on 3 or more days of rest. The Spurs are 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games as an underdog. The Spurs are 5-13 ATS in their last 18 games as a road underdog. The Spurs are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 Saturday games. The Spurs are 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings in New Orleans. The road team is 6-2 ATS in the last 8 meetings between the two teams.

The Hornets are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 playoff games as a favorite. The
Hornets are 21-7 ATS in their last 28 home games. The Hornets are 44-16-2 ATS in their last 62 Saturday games. The Hornets are 1-6 ATS in their last 7 Conference Semifinals games.

The Over is 6-2 in the Spurs last 8 overall. The Under is 16-6 in the Spurs last 22 vs. the Southwest. The Over is 8-3 in the Spurs last 11 playoff games as an underdog. The Over is 11-5 in the Spurs last 16 Conference Semifinals games.

The Over is 6-1 in the Hornets last 7 Conference Semifinals games. The Over is 17-7-2 in the Hornets last 26 games as a home favorite. The Under is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings between the two teams.

Pick: Hornets -3.5 4units

NBA Playoff Betting Preview
Phoenix Suns at San Antonio Spurs (Spurs lead 3-1)
Tuesday, 9:35 pm Eastern – TNT

SBG Global Opening Line: Spurs  -5, Total 197.5

The San Antonio Spurs don’t want to give the Phoenix Suns any hope and will try and close them out on Tuesday night in Game #5 of their best of seven series. “We know that winning a Game 6 there is going to be really tough. If we don’t, then Game 7 we know is a lottery,” Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. “We don’t even have to think that there’s a Game 6 or Game 7. We have to take (Game 5) as a Game 7. We know we have a great opportunity at home.” SBG Global reports that early NBA betting has the public taking Suns on the Road.

Phoenix is coming off a 105-86 win against the Spurs in Game #4 and now need to play well again to force the series back to Phoenix. “We’re down 3-1, we know we’ve got a long road to go, but we don’t think about the series, we think about Tuesday,” Suns coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We can win Tuesday. That’s the only thing we’re thinking about. That’s definitely a possibility and that’s what we want to make a reality.”  The Suns actually blew leads in both of the first two games in San Antonio. “In our minds, we feel the series should be 2-2,” the Suns Shaquille O’Neal said. “We let the first one slip away.”  The Suns seem very confident even though no team has ever come back from down 0-3 to win a series. “We’re just excited to be alive still. After being 3-0, it’s nice to feel like we have a little life,” Suns point guard Steve Nash said.

SBG Global Current Line: Spurs  -5, Total 197.5

Here are the NBA betting stats for Tuesday’s game.  The Suns are 7-2 ATS in their last 9 Tuesday games. The Suns are 13-6-1 ATS in their last 20 vs. the Western Conference. The Suns are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games as a road underdog. The underdog is 6-2 ATS in the last 8 meetings between the two teams.

The Spurs are 5-0-1 ATS in their last 6 Tuesday games. The Spurs are 14-3-1 ATS in their last 18 playoff games as a favorite. The Spurs are 6-2 ATS in their last 8 Conference Quarterfinals games. The Spurs are 6-2 ATS in their last 8 games as a home favorite.

The Over is 8-1 in the Suns last 9 games as a road underdog. The
Over is 5-1 in the Suns last 6 Conference Quarterfinals games. The Over is 5-2 in the Suns last 7 playoff games as an underdog.

The Over is 4-0 in the Spurs last 4 games as a favorite. The Over is 6-1 in the Spurs last 7 overall. The Over is 5-1 in the Spurs last 6 vs. the Pacific. The Over is 5-2 in the Spurs last 7 games as a home favorite.

Pick: Lean towards the Suns but going to sit this one out and enjoy what will be a great game

NBA Playoff Betting Preview
San Antonio Spurs at Phoenix Suns (Spurs lead 2-0)
Friday, 10:35 pm Eastern – ESPN

SBG Global Opening Line: Suns  - 6.5 , Total 193

The Phoenix Suns may be in a desperate situation down 0-2 to the San Antonio Spurs but they still seem confident heading into game three on Friday night in Phoenix.  Many fans seem ready to abandon ship but head coach Mike D’Antoni believes in his team. “I’m on the ledge with them,” he said, “but I’m not going (to jump). I’m going to crawl back in, and we’re going to play Friday, and we’re going to bust them up Friday. That is our mind set. We still don’t have any doubt that we can win the series.” SBG Global reports that early NBA betting has the public taking Suns at Home.

Phoenix will not make any major changes in their strategy because they believe they easily could have won both games in San Antonio. “To be honest with you, we don’t want to make a whole lot of changes,” he said, “We feel good about the way things are going.”  Phoenix led in each of the first two games only to give them away in the second half. “We had a lot to feel good about in Game 1, and we had a great first half in Game 2,” the Suns’ Steve Nash said. “I think we’ve just got to tweak it a little bit, be a little bit smarter, a little bit tougher.” The Suns will probably be without forward Grant Hill on Friday. “If he’s not 100 percent, he won’t play,” D’Antoni said.
The Suns now need to win four of the next five versus San Antonio with Friday’s game being a must-win.  It may help if they start pushing the ball a little bit more. “We need to up the production,” D’Antoni said. “We need to hoist ‘em up, we need to run more, we need to move the ball a little bit better, and we need to play more carefree. We’re a little tight right now.”

SBG Global Current Line: Suns  - 6.5 , Total 194.5

The Spurs realize that they didn’t dominate the Suns in the first two games. “We didn’t beat anybody to death,” Spurs head coach Greg Popovich said, “We had to work out butts off, we had to have some good fortune, we had to play well down the stretch to win both games at home. They’re going home; they’re going to feel good about themselves, so we’ve got to be ready for that.” The Spurs know that the series can change quickly. “We can’t be satisfied,” Spurs guard Tony Parker said. “Since I’ve been here, we’ve been in all kinds of situations. In 2004, we were up 2-0 against the Lakers and they came back. So we just have to realize 2-0 doesn’t mean nothing. We just did our job. We just won our two games at home.”  That mindset is something that many NBA teams don’t have.  They get overconfident after winning their homes games.  The Spurs have to guard against that. “I don’t think these guys will be complacent,” Popovich said. “One worries about it, it’s always there. There’s always a natural tendency to feel good about anything that you’ve accomplished. But I think our team is experienced enough to know that they haven’t accomplished anything yet, that the goal is way down the road.”

Here are the NBA betting stats for Friday’s game. The Spurs are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 Conference Quarterfinals games. The Spurs are 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games as an underdog. The Spurs are 4-12 ATS in their last 16 games as a road underdog. The Spurs are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 vs. the Pacific. The Spurs are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 road games. The Spurs are 9-4-1 ATS in the last 14 meetings in Phoenix. The underdog is 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings between the two teams.

The Suns are 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games as a home favorite. The Suns are 10-4-1 ATS in their last 15 games as a favorite overall.  The Suns are 12-5-1 ATS in their last 18 vs. the Western Conference.

The Over is 4-0 in the Spurs last 4 vs. the Pacific. The Under is 5-0 in the Spurs last 5 Friday games. The Over is 5-0 in the Spurs last 5 overall. The Over is 7-2 in the Spurs last 9 playoff games as an underdog. The Under is 6-2 in the Spurs last 8 Conference Quarterfinals games. The Under is 26-12 in the Spurs last 38 road games vs. a team with a winning home record.

The Over is 4-0 in the Suns last 4 Conference Quarterfinals games. The Under is 5-1 in the Suns last 6 Friday games. The Over is 10-4 in the Suns last 14 playoff games as a favorite. The Over is 9-4 in the Suns last 13 vs. the Southwest. The Over is 11-5 in the Suns last 16 games as a home favorite. The Under is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings in Phoenix between the two teams.

Should be another battle between these two teams, take the points Spurs +6.5 in a close game 3units.

NBA Playoff Betting Preview
Phoenix Suns at San Antonio Spurs (Spurs lead 1-0)
Tuesday, 9:35 pm Eastern – TNT

SBG Global Opening Line: Spurs  - 3.5 , Total 192

The Phoenix Suns will try and bounce back from a heart-breaking loss in game one to the San Antonio Spurs as the teams meet for game two on Tuesday night.  The Suns had the Spurs on the ropes a few times in game number one but couldn’t put them away and ended up losing in double overtime. “We didn’t catch a bullet,” Phoenix head coach Mike D’Antoni said. “They dodged a bullet.”  SBG Global reports that early NBA betting has the public taking Spurs at Home.

The Suns will need better play out of Shaquille O’Neal and a more consistent game out of Steve Nash if they want to win on Tuesday.  O’Neal was not happy with the refereeing in game one.  “I’ll never change, because of inconsistency in the way the game is called,” O’Neal said. “I always get in trouble when I worry about how the refs call a game. I got four (championships) doing it my way. It’s the playoffs, let’s play it off. I play like a man all the time, not acting like I just got shot. If they want to flop, I’ll give them something to flop about.” Phoenix knows that it is a long series but game two is important for the Suns.  “We’ve got seven games. We’ll be fine,” D’Antoni said. “If we’re the best team, we’ll win it.”  The Suns were not able to stop Tim Duncan at all and Manu Ginobili cut through them like a knife through butter for most of the first game. The Spurs scored 72 of their 117 points in the paint. “I think staying out of foul trouble would help,” D’Antoni said. “We’ll tweak it a little, too. Having said that, that’s why they’ve won four championships, because nobody has figured out a way to stop them.”

SBG Global Current Line: Spurs  - 2 , Total 192

Suns forward Grant Hill re-injured his groin while taking a charge from Michael Finley early in game one and didn’t do much afterwards. “It was bothering me yesterday (Saturday),” Hill said. “I felt pretty good to start the game but as we went along, it started to wear on me.”  Steve Nash was battling the flu and was very weak in game one.  He did come on late though as he had 20 points from the fourth quarter on.

The winner of game one in an NBA playoff series wins 78.5 percent of the time and if that game is at home, the percentage jumps to 86.2 percent.  Phoenix head coach D’Antoni doesn’t want to hear any of it though. “Most first-round series are mismatches. (A No.1 seed) against (No. 8), that’s almost 99.9 percent.” he said, “Two against a seven? That’s about 90 (percent). “Now go to the NBA Finals and see what the stats are. That’s when you have two evenly matched teams. That’s what you have here. So you can take that stat and forget it. They might win, but it won’t be because they won the first game.”

Here are the NBA betting stats for Tuesday’s game.  The Suns are 6-0 ATS in their last 6 games playing on 2 days of rest. The Suns are 7-1 ATS in their last 8 Tuesday games. The Suns are 6-2 ATS in their last 8 vs. the Southwest. The Suns are 12-4-1 ATS in their last 17 vs. the Western Conference. The Suns are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 Conference Quarterfinals games. The Suns are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games as a road underdog. The Suns are 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings in San Antonio. The road team is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings between the two teams and the underdog is 5-0 ATS in the last 5 meetings.

The Spurs are 4-0-1 ATS in their last 5 Tuesday games. The Spurs are 13-3-1 ATS in their last 17 playoff games as a favorite. The Spurs are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 Conference Quarterfinals games. The Spurs are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games as a home favorite. The Spurs are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games overall. The Spurs are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 vs. the Western Conference.
The Spurs are 1-7 ATS in their last 8 games playing on 2 days of rest. The Spurs are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 vs. the Pacific.

The Over is 7-1 in the Suns last 8 games as a road underdog. The Over is 4-1 in the Suns last 5 Conference Quarterfinals games. The Over is 6-2 in the Suns last 8 Tuesday games.

The Over is 4-0 in the Spurs last 4 overall. The Over is 4-0 in the Spurs last 4 vs. the Western Conference. The Under is 6-1 in the Spurs last 7 Conference Quarterfinals games. The Over is 5-1 in the Spurs last 6 vs. the Pacific. The Over is 5-1 in the Spurs last 6 home games vs. a team with a winning road record. The Under is 5-2 in the Spurs last 7 games playing on 2 days of rest. The Under is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings between the two teams.

NBA Betting Preview
Utah Jazz (54-27) at San Antonio Spurs (55-26)
Wednesday, 9:35 pm Eastern – ESPN

SBG Global Opening Line: Spurs - 4, Total 182

The Utah Jazz will try and clinch home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs as they travel to San Antonio on Wednesday. The Jazz have not had much success at San Antonio in the past though. The game means a lot to the Jazz since getting home court advantage in the first round would be huge. The Jazz have the best record in the NBA at home but they are just 17-23 on the road. “Somewhere along the line, we’re going to have to learn how to win on the road some way,” Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. SBG Global reports that early NBA betting has the public taking Spurs at Home.

The Jazz have not won in San Antonio in almost 10 years, having lost their last 20 games in San Antonio. The Jazz have won the last two meetings with San Antonio this season but both of those games were at home. If Utah wins this game they would tie the Spurs for the third-best record in the West and clinch the season series. If San Antonio wins they would take the third seed. The Spurs are coming off a 101-98 win at Sacramento on Monday. Tony Parker tied his season high with 32 points and added 11 assists for the Spurs.

SBG Global Current Line: Spurs - 4, Total 182

Here are the NBA betting stats for Wednesday’s game. The Jazz are 7-0 ATS in their last 7 games overall. The Jazz are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 Wednesday games. The Jazz are 13-3 ATS in their last 16 vs. the Southwest. The Jazz are 0-7 ATS in the last 7 meetings in San Antonio.

The Spurs are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games. The Spurs are 2-7 ATS in their last 9 vs. the Northwest. The Spurs are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games overall. The favorite is 12-2 ATS in the last 14 meetings between the two teams and the home team is 13-3 ATS in the last 16 meetings.

The Under is 9-2-1 in Utah’s last 12 vs. the Southwest. The Under is 4-1 in Utah’s last 5 overall. The Under is 4-1 in Utah’s last 5 vs. the Western Conference.

The Under is 4-0 in the Spurs last 4 vs. the Northwest. The Under is 7-2 in the Spurs last 9 Wednesday games. The Over is 5-0 in the last 5 meetings in San Antonio between the two teams.

Pick Jazz +4 4units, they need it!