The San Antonio Spurs will host the Milwaukee Bucks in a game that could reverse trends for both teams. Spurs have been winning lately, the Bucks have been losing, but now get a helping hand in form of Eric Bledsoe. Will it be enough?
Bucks at Spurs
Spread: San Antonio -4.5 (-110) at BetDSI Sportsbook
Total: o/u 206.5 points (-110)
The Bucks lose fourth in a row, trade for Bledsoe
As long as you have many ‘tough’ games on your schedule, you are not particularly good. The Milwaukee Bucks are supposed to be the next big thing, but the reality is that they are 4-6 in the first ten games – only Chicago, Atlanta, and Brooklyn are worse in their conference. They lost four in a row and five of the last six. Yes, they had to play Boston twice, Cleveland twice and Charlotte twice (and OKC once), but that brings me to the first sentence of this paragraph.
They hanged tough in Cleveland on Tuesday, losing 119-124, but is this really a moral victory? The two losses to the Cavs are about the only wins the Cavs had so far. Sure, Antetokounmpo is an early candidate for the MVP selection, but even he can’t score 40 points on 16-of-21 shooting every night, like he did in Ohio. Or, even if he can, this doesn’t guarantee wins to the Bucks. All the Bucks issues were highlighted on Tuesday. Even before the game has started, they announced that they completed a trade for quarantined Suns guard Eric Bledsoe, send Greg Monroe and two picks to the desert. It’s a classic Bucks move – they previously created such a logjam at the center position that they kind of got used to trade big man away. But, Monroe was highly useful big, and even though he’d probably walk in free agency, it creates a void obvious by the Bucks results since he came down with an injury. Further, why on Earth would they want Bledsoe? Brogdon is playing well, won a Rookie of the Year award despite being overlooked at the draft, and they have Dellavedova backing him. After all, the Bucks play through Giannis, and Bledsoe isn’t great as a spot-up shooter. But back to the game in Cleveland. The Bucks shot extremely well, and that’s what kept them in the game. 56.6 percent should get the job done on most nights, but not if you commit 32 fouls and send the Cavaliers to the easiest points in basketball 38 times. The free throw discrepancy has been huge for the Bucks – only two teams average fewer attempts per game, and they come in fifth-worst by the number of opponents free throws per game.
Bledsoe joined the team and will likely make a debut for them in this game, possibly even in the starting lineup replacing Snell. Snell is the Bucks best player without the ball, but he’ll help the second unit as well and they shouldn’t take much of a hit, except for the Bledsoe’s questionable game condition and unfamiliarity to the rest of the team.
Place: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
Date/Time: Friday, November 10th, 2017. 9:00 PM ET
TV Coverage: ESPN
The Spurs back to winning ways in San Antonio
As the Spurs returned home, the lost shooting touch has returned as well. Life is much easier when the ball go through the hoop. But it wasn’t just the change of scenery, the Spurs have also made a change to the starting lineup three games ago, and they won them all – most recently, they had little trouble disposing of Blake Griffin and his Los Angeles Clippers, 120-107.
The Spurs led most of the first half, but couldn’t get any separation before the third quarter during which they scored 40 points. Coming out ready to play and take over the game was instrumental in both of their last two wins. Against Phoenix, the Spurs won third quarter 34-13, and they beat the Clippers by 19 in this period. It was a brilliant, smooth offensive performance, the best of the season. The ball was moving swiftly from side to side, and all players touching it on multiple occasions. The Clippers could not understand from where the next attack was coming, as the Spurs shot 53.6 percent from both the two and the three. Three G attack (Gasol, Gay, Green) shot 11-of-15 from the deep, and Aldridge hit a couple. These four players combined for 90 points. The Spurs have had 33 assists, the most this season, and even their coach Popovich applauded their performance after the game.
Lauvergne, Leonard, and Parker remain on the sidelines with injuries. The Spurs conclude this six-game homestand the next day against Chicago, so it’s practically the front end of a back-to-back for them.
Milwaukee Bucks at San Antonio Spurs Game Trends & Prediction
The Bucks have been losing money of their backers, going 3-5-2 against the spread this season. It’s clearly a result of unrealistic expectations based on Antetokounmpo’s appeal to the public, and they’ve now added a borderline star. They are 6-4 against the over/under overall, and 4-1 away from home.
The Spurs have covered in all three recent wins, improving their ATS score to 6-5, which is not thrilling before you considering games played at home, where the Spurs failed to deliver only against the Warriors, and are 5-1 to start the season. There are no significant trends on the totals market, as the Spurs have been alternating overs and unders for an overall record of 5-6.
Admi-Rank: The Bucks are trending down for some time, and they haven’t been able to reach NBA average level since the opening week, but are not too far behind. The Spurs bounced back from a four-game losing streak very nicely, so they are back at their more usual level.
After years of the Spurs dominating the Milwaukee Bucks, most recent two meetings have been decided by a single shot, which each team winning on the other team’s floor last season. However, neither of the teams got a taste of what’s coming next when they last played in January. Aldridge missed the game for illness, and Antetokounmpo lasted only 9 minutes before being pulled out for feeling under the weather himself. These two are now playing key roles for their teams. Also, neither Spurs nor Bucks will know how the new addition, Eric Bledsoe, will transform what coach Kidd wants to do, so it’s definitely a game full of uncertainties.
What we do know, is that the bookies have set the lines to -4.5 and 206.5, favoring the Spurs to win despite playing with a B-squad. The reason for the smallish spread is that the bookies expect more bets on the away side, believing that public will think that Bledsoe will solve Bucks issues. The Spurs aren’t as mighty as before, but it’s still a great price to get in AT&T Center. The total line is also a bit too high, but there’s not enough room to bet under it.
My Pick: San Antonio -4.5 (-110)
Total: (no total points wager here)
