In this report of the hot and cold NBA teams we see several of the same teams from two weeks ago, but there are also some teams that haven’t been on the report all year. This bi-weekly article series is aimed to help you catch onto trends that can make you money when betting on the NBA. Let’s take a look at the hot and cold teams from the last two weeks. Note that the statistics used are for games played between Dec. 13 and Dec. 26.

Top Five “Hot” ATS NBA Teams

• Houston Rockets (5-1 ATS) - Rick Adelman is doing a nice job getting this team to play solid basketball despite their injury problems. Yao Ming is out for the year, but this team still has quite a bit of talent. Houston is 8-4 ATS at home, and their next three games are all at home.

• Detroit Pistons (4-1 ATS) - The Pistons have been back and forth this year. They’ve showed up on both sides of this report, but they are now outperforming the books expectations once again. They start a road trip on the left coast next week, which could test their ability to continue covering the spread.

• Minnesota Timberwolves (5-2 ATS) - The Timberwolves make their first appearance on this list. Minnesota has covered in five of their last six games, and they are doing it with improved efficiency on offense. The team leads the NBA in offensive rebounding, and they are hitting 38.5 percent from beyond the arc.

• Philadelphia 76ers (5-2 ATS) - The Sixers are a tough team to get a read on, but they are still covering the spread more often than not. This is the second time in a row they’ve shown up on the hot list. Ironically, the Sixers lost, 121-76, during this period, but covered in five of the other six games. Improved play on the defensive end has helped this team.

• Los Angeles Clippers (4-2 ATS) - It may come as a surprise that this team is on the hot list, but they are playing much better of late. They have covered in four of their last five games, and Blake Griffin is finally starting to get some help from his teammates.

Bottom Five “Cold” ATS NBA Teams

• Indiana Pacers (0-5-1 ATS) - The Pacers were outperforming expectations earlier this year, but they have hit a wall in the last couple weeks. Danny Granger is having a very disappointing year thus far. This team must shoot a higher percentage from the field if they are going to turn it around.

• Sacramento Kings (1-5 ATS) - The Kings have now been on this list three times, which shows just how bad things have gotten in Sacramento. There is some young talent on this team, but there is no team chemistry. Don’t be surprised if there are some changes in Sacramento before too long.

• Toronto Raptors (1-4 ATS) - The Raptors are one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA, which has led to their swoon of late. The schedule looks tough in the next couple weeks, so I don’t expect a quick turnaround from this team.

• Atlanta Hawks (2-5 ATS) - The Hawks just haven’t been finishing games well in the last few weeks. This team has plenty of talent, but they have blown fourth quarter leads on numerous occasions this year. Atlanta is just 5-11 ATS at home this year.

• San Antonio Spurs (2-5 ATS) - It isn’t that the Spurs are losing games, but they are winning by small margins in the last two weeks. San Antonio still has the best record in the NBA, but it appears the books have finally inflated the Spurs NBA lines just a little too much.