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The San Antonio Spurs (30-11, 24-16-1 ATS) are one of the highest scoring teams in the NBA and their defense has not been intense on the road, so look for a high scoring game vs. the Atlanta Hawks (22-16, 15-22-1 ATS) at Philips Arena in Atlanta Saturday at 7:05 ET. Each of these teams are playing the second game of a back-to-back, as San Antonio played host to Golden State at home Friday night while the Hawks were in Brooklyn to take on the Nets.
The Spurs have one of the most potent offenses in the league as they rank third in scoring at 104.8 points per game, second in field goal percentage at a blistering 48.7 percent and third in three-point shooting at 39.1 percent. The San Antonio offense is so hot that it even put up 103 points vs. one of the best defenses in the NBA in Memphis on Wednesday, making the Spurs just the fourth team all year to reach 100 points vs. the Grizzlies. San Antonio is tough to defend because it is so deep and so many of the Spurs can hit shots from anywhere on the floor, which is the main reason they have seven players averaging at least nine points per game. Now, the Spurs are playing better defense this year than they did last season, ranking 11th in the league in points against at 96.4 per game. However, there is a large disparity in San Antonio's points allowed at home vs. away, as the Spurs allow only 92.0 points per game at home but 100.1 points per road game. When you add in the 103.6 points the Spurs are scoring themselves away from home, it makes for a rather high road average of 203.7 combined points per contest.
Now the Hawks have been in an overall shooting slump lately that has seen them score 84 points or less in five of their last eight games, but most of those shooting difficulties have come on the road, as Atlanta has exceeded 100 points in each of its last two home games including putting an end to the Nets' seven-game winning streak with a 109-95 win on Wednesday in the first game of a home-and-home series. The Hawks are now down to 17th in the NBA in scoring overall at 95.8 points per game, but that average zooms all the way up to 100.1 points here at Philips Arena while plummeting to 91.5 points on the road. As a result, the 'over' has gone 12-7 in all Atlanta home games. Also, keep in mind that the Hawks scored 109 points against the Nets the other night without the help of leading scorer Josh Smith, who was suspended for one game for conduct detrimental to the team. Smith was expected to rejoin the team on Friday night in Brooklyn.
The Spurs have tended to play high scoring games in the second of back-to-backs, as the 'over' is 10-4-1 in their last 15 games playing without a day off. The 'over' is also 7-3 in the last 10 Atlanta non-conference games.
Pick: OVER 198
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