Best Bet / Andy Morris / 18 February 2010 / Leave a comment Bet Now

Take the Spurs to open the second half of their season with a morale-boosting win over the Pacers, suggests Andy Morris.

This so-called 'Rodeo Road Trip' has tended to be a successful one for the team

San Antonio has a tough patch of games at the moment, eight consecutively on the road, which have gone reasonably well so far.

They won in Sacramento over the LA Clippers and in Denver, while losing in Portland and against the Lakers.

This so-called 'Rodeo Road Trip' has tended to be a successful one for the team, which has a combined road trip record over that sequence of .705 (43-18).

Overall, they boast a 30-21 record and are even at 11-11 on the road. Their most recent performance, the win against the Nuggets on 11 February, was excellent as they came out on top, 111-92, and gives them something of a platform to build from.

One of the most encouraging things about that victory was that seven players scored in double figures, with Nene leading the way with 20 points and nine boards while DeJuan Blair contributed 17 points and nine rebounds in less than 21 minutes of game time.

Indeed, it's a feature of the Spurs that their bench has contributed so much this season. San Antonio leads the NBA in average bench points with 40.1, as well as in average bench rebounds (17.1) and average bench assists (9.3).

The Spurs lead this season series 1-0 (Tim Duncan drained the game-winner as they won through 100-99 in December) and beat the Pacers 2-0 in last season's series. In fact, San Antonio has swept the Pacers in three of the last four season series.

Duncan, who has said publicly he doesn't anticipate the team will trade ahead of the deadline, has not only been happy with his team-mates but satisfied with his own record this season.

He is the only player in the league to rank in the top 20 in points, rebounds, field goal percentage and blocks per game.

That kind of form was reflected in him being named as a starter for the All-Star Game, the 12th consecutive season he has made the team and the 11th time he has been selected as a starter.

They need to beat teams like the Pacers, who are well outside the playoff race, in order to keep up their own ambitions in that direction. They go into the second half of the season well within reach of Southwest Division-leading Dallas.

While the Spurs can use their win over Denver as an inspiration, Indiana choked in the last eight minutes of their last game, the 109-101 defeat against the Bulls at Conseco Fieldhouse as they were outscored 25-9 in the final 7:42.

You've got to regard the Spurs as very strong favourites to win this one, and I'm making them my Best Bet of the week.