L.A. Lakers at Dallas Mavericks Betting Odds


Opening Betting Line : Lakers +1 / Mavericks -1
Over/Under : 193

Time: 9 PM EST Saturday March 12, 2011 on NBA TV

The Lakers lost their first game since the All Star break in their last game and they could really use a win in the Big D, as they trail the Mavericks by 1.5 games for the 2nd spot in the Western Conference. The Mavs are having a great season and they have won 8 of their last 10 games, but nobody is really talking about them being legit title contenders. That may change if they can beat the 2-time champion Lakers in this game.

In their last games the Lakers lost to the Miami Heat 94-88 on Thursday night and the Mavericks looked impressive in killing the New York Knicks 127-109 also on Thursday.

This season the Mavericks have been a better betting team going 35-28-2 ATS while the Lakers are 32-33-1 ATS. The Lakers have only covered the spread 2 times in their last 7 games against the Mavs.

The Lakers have to shoot better than they did in the loss to the Heat, as Pau Gasol was the only starter that shot at least 50% from the floor. They will be facing a Dallas’ defense that does rank 10th in the league in opponents’ points per game, but has allowed opponents to score over 100 points in 4 of their last 5 games.

Dallas’ C Tyson Chandler is back in the lineup after missing 3 games with an ankle injury and he has 21 boards in the last 2 games. He will be key in this game, especially on defense, since the Lakers have 3 trees in Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, and Andrew Bynum.

The Mavs beat the Lakers 109-100 back on January 19th. In that game the Mavs did not play much D, but either did the Lakers allowing Dallas to shoot 55% from the floor. Dallas scored 19 fast point break points in that game and in this game the Lakers have to get back on D and not allow the Mavs to get easy buckets.

The Lakers had been winning because of their defense, but on Thursday night they could not contain the new Big 3 of LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade.

Dirk Nowitzki (23 ppg) has been playing well, but he will need help in this game on offense from Jason Terry (16.4 ppg) and Shawn Marion (11.4 ppg). In the game against the Lakers earlier this season Terry and Marion came off the bench to combine for 44 points and if they can repeat that performance they will win this game.

Betting Trends

Dallas is -4 ATS in their last 5 games, 9-4 ATS in their last 13 games against teams with a winning percentage above 60%, and an Over record of 17-5 in their last 22 home games.

L.A. is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 road games, 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games, and has an Under record of 4-1 in their last 5 road games.

In the last 8 games between these 2 teams in Dallas the total has gone Over 6 times.

Our Selection : The scheduling favors the Lakers as the Mavs will be in a 3 games in 4 nights situation. Dallas also has shown some cracks in their armor in recent games allowing 103.8 points per game while losing 2 of their last 4. That’s not good sign when taking on the Lakers who always play good defense and have been extremely solid in their last 9 games. It’s tough to go against a team that has lost only 3 games (all by one point) in their last 23, but the Lakers will most certainly be fired up after their poor offensive showing vs. the Heat and do have the revenge angle.
Take the Lakers +1 at 5Dimes.


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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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