Boston Celtics at Dallas Mavericks Betting Odds


Opening Line: Celtics +4 / Mavericks -4 O/U 210

Time: 9 PM EST Saturday March 20, 2010 on KTXA

Tonight the Boston Celtics continue their Lone Star State road trip taking on the Dallas Mavericks tonight in the Big D. Last night the Celtics snapped the Houston Rockets 4-game winning streak and tonight look to beat Dallas, who have won 9 of their last 10 games and have been on fore since pulling the trigger on the 1st big trade of the season.

Boston has won 3 straight and is 7-3 in their last 10 games and the Mavs are 9-1 in their last 10 games and coming off a win. The Celtics are tied with Atlanta for the 3rd spot in the East and would like to stay there so they do not have to face Cleveland in a possible 2nd round playoff match up. The Mavs are in the 3rd spot in the West only ½ back of Denver and 4.5 games back of the L.A. Lakers.

This season the Mavs are 24-10 at home and 28-39-1 ATS and the Celtics are 23-12 on the road and 26-39-2 ATS.

In their last games the Celtics beat the Houston Rockets 94-87 last night and the Mavs beat the Chicago Bulls 113-106 on Wednesday night.

The Mavs beat the Celtics in Boston on January 18th and tonight the Celtics look to even the season series.

The Celtics have the 2nd best road record in the NBA.

Dallas ranks 11th this season in scoring (101.8 ppg) and they have their work cut out for them tonight facing a Celtics' team that ranks 2nd in the league in opponents' points allowed (94.3 ppg).

The Celtics are not a high scoring team so they have to make this a low scoring game, as if it is a shootout the Mavs have the advantage.

If Kevin Garnett (14.4 ppg) can play solid D against Dirk Nowitzki (25 ppg) the Celtics should be in good shape, as in the game in Boston earlier this season the 7-foot German had 37 points and the Mavs won by 9 points.

Both teams have had struggles on the boards this season, as each has a negative rebounding differential and the team that can win the battle of the boards has a big advantage in this game.

The Mavs have to play solid perimeter defense against Ray Allen (16.2 ppg) and Paul Pierce (17.9 ppg), who had 26 points in last night's win over Houston.

Betting Trends

Boston is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games, 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 road games, and has an Under record of 8-3 in their last 11 road games.

Dallas is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games, 6-0 ATS in their last 6 home games against teams with a road winning percentage of greater than 60%, and has an Over record of 6-1 in their last 7 home games.


Future Betting Odds

NBA Handicapping

Dallas Mavericks at Miami Heat Odds 6-12
The Mavs are up 3-2 in this series heading to South Beach and for the Heat to force Game 7 they will have to play better in the 4th quarter, especially LeBron James. 5Dimes has the hometown Heat as 5-point favorites in Game 6 with a total of 187.

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