basketball | Wednesday, October 19, 2022 12:10 PM

San Antonio Spurs vs Charlotte Hornets Best Bet: Start Your Engines

Milan Stanojic

San Antonio Spurs vs Charlotte Hornets Best Bet: Wednesday, October 19th

We started off the regular season on the right foot, easily winning our bet for Boston to beat the 76ers, but it’s a new day already so we have to keep the ball rolling. The San Antonio Spurs are taking on the Charlotte Hornets tonight at AT&T Center, and this is a game where I see some value backing the visitors.

In this article:

San Antonio Spurs vs Charlotte Hornets Preview
San Antonio Spurs vs Charlotte Hornets Best Bet

San Antonio Spurs vs Charlotte Hornets Preview

Thu, Oct 20. 01:00 (UK time)

The San Antonio Spurs have enjoyed years of success under Gregg Popovich, including countless playoff appearances and 5 NBA championship titles. However, the Spurs failed to make the playoffs in the last 3 years, and the organisation finally decided it was time for a rebuild. The Spurs only won 34 games last year and lost their play-in game to the Pelicans by 113-103.

This year, the team looks completely different, and there’s a reason why. Gregg Popovich decided it was tanking time, and the Spurs traded away or let go anyone who could help them win this summer, apart from the young Keldon Johnson, who is 23 years old. They now have mostly young players under the age of 30, with the exceptions being Gorgui Dieng and Dougie McBuckets.

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows in Charlotte either. LaMelo Ball is battling an ankle injury and will miss tonight’s game, whilst Miles Bridges is… also out. Still, the Hornets were quite exciting last season, ranking 6th in pace rating and 3rd in points per game. It’s true that the hornets don’t really play defence, having allowed 114.9 points per game last year, but they are going to have a much easier time against a young team like this.

That said, the Hornets still have some of their top players, like Scary Terry, Gordon Hayward, and Kelly Oubre Jr. They aren’t at full strength, but they are still more than capable of winning some games. They should still be able to push the tempo, shoot a lot of threes and get the job done against a tanking San Antonio side.

San Antonio Spurs vs Charlotte Hornets Best Bet

The Spurs are viewed as slight dogs at 2.10 odds to win at home, whilst the Hornets are available at 1.90. The spread is set at 2 points, and you can already guess what I’m picking.

The Spurs have no interest in winning and want to avoid it at all costs. They are looking to develop their young team and build from the ground up. I’m backing the Hornets to get the dub in their season opener, and I don’t mind giving up 2 points in the handicap market in order to get better odds.