Posted on 12/17/2007 4:34:30 PM

Basketball Betting - Phoenix (+ 2) vs. San Antonio (- 2)

By D.S. Williamson

Huge game tonight between the Suns and Spurs. Both teams haven’t been as dominant this year as some expected. The Spurs have sort of come back to earth because of the injuries to Tony Parker and Tim Duncan. Duncan is back tonight. Parker is on the shelf.

The Suns have been up and down this year because, well, they’re the Phoenix Suns. They certainly have the talent to beat any team in the NBA, but, for some reason, they just haven’t put together one of those fifteen game runs that they were known for two or three years ago.

I’m not ready to throw in the towel on either one of these teams at this point.

First, some trends:

The San Antonio Spurs are 7 and 1 against the spread in their last games overall.

The Phoenix Suns are 7-15-1 against the spread in the last 23 meetings between these two teams.

The Phoenix Suns are 6 and 8 against the spread so far this season.

The Suns have lost three of their last four games and because they show no injuries on their report, I have to only assume that Phoenix has been playing well below their talent level in their last four. The lone win, versus the Utah Jazz, was actually the one win out of their latest four game stretch that they needed.

That appears to be what the Suns are doing this year - - relaxing versus Eastern Conference teams or lowly Western Conference teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves, then stepping it up against tougher teams like the Utah Jazz.

If that’s the case, then there is no reason for the Suns not to step it up against the Spurs in this situation. The Spurs have been playing very well lately without the services of both Duncan and Parker. They get Duncan back for this but, really, getting Parker back would have served them better.

The Spurs match-up well no matter who they play but the Suns are the type of team that will kill you if you don’t get your point-guard to take away Steve Nash. The New Orleans Hornets did exactly that versus the Suns in their last game, keeping Nash in check and, more importantly, playing as well as he was playing, and actually beat the Suns.

Without Parker, the Spurs have little chance of doing that.

The BetUS NBA line is Phoenix Suns + 2 against the spread on the road versus the San Antonio Spurs.

The Suns appear to be a very solid play tonight versus the defending NBA Champions.

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