Betting tips / Matthew Reid / 23 January 2012 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market

San Antonio is looking to put an end to the woes they have experienced on the road this season and Matt Reid believes they face the ideal opponent to do so - the New Orleans Hornets.

Why?

Simple.

The Hornets have a paltry single home victory this season.

With a 3-13 record, and comfortably propping up the Western Conference, the Hornets have had a terrible start to the year. Chris Paul leaving was always going to create a huge hole and unfortunately the main piece the Hornets received in the Paul trade (Eric Gordon) has missed the majority of the season so far and is out for this match.

A top-10 scorer in the league and on the verge of a breakout season, Gordon was expected to carry an offense that has severely faltered without him. The Hornets are yet to reach the 100-point mark in any game this season and have no obvious go-to scorer in late game situations.

San Antonio bring a 1-6 road record into this match, which is really what has stopped them being right up there with the top teams in the west. The Spurs have managed to be competitive despite losing leading scorer Manu Ginobili very early on this season and have been unfortunate to be on the wrong side of some close games on the road. Their most recent result was a three point loss at Houston in a match that Tim Duncan was rested from.

Duncan is expected to return against the Hornets, which will be an important inclusion as the Hornets centres, Okafor and Kaman, are a strong point of their team.

If the Spurs are to gain a decent playoff seeding this is the type of game they simply must win, and despite coming up against a defence that has been much worse this season than in previous years, the Hornets will continue their run of low scores which won't be enough to overcome the Spurs.

Back the Spurs to cover the line of around 5.