Orlando Magic at Dallas Mavericks Betting Odds


Opening Line: Magic -1 / Mavericks +1 O/U 199

Time: 8 PM EST Thursday April 1, 2010 on TNT

Tonight in a non-conference match up in the Big D the Dallas Mavericks host the Orlando Magic. It looks as if the Magic will get the 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference, as they lead 3rd place Atlanta by 4 games. Dallas is in 2nd in the Western Conference, but the last few games are important for them. The Mavs want to host, at least, a 1st round playoff series and they need to finish the season strong to stay in the 2nd spot. They only lead 3rd place Utah by ½ game, 4th place Phoenix by 1 game, and 5th place Denver by 2 games.

The Mavs have won 3 in a row and are 6-4 in their last 10 games and the Magic have won 2 in a row and are 8-2 in their last 10 games.

This season the Mavericks are 26-11 at home and 30-42-2 ATS and the Magic are 22-15 on the road and 37-32-5 ATS.

In their last games the Mavs beat the Memphis Grizzlies last night 106-102 in OT and the Magic beat the Denver Nuggets 103-97 on Sunday.

The Mavs have beaten the Magic in 6 of their last 7 meetings.

The Magic may need some players to pick up the scoring slack tonight, as 2nd leading scorer Vince Carter (16.5 ppg) may miss this game with an injured toe.

The Mavs’ big men of Brendan Haywood (9.3 ppg 9.6 rpg) and Erick Dampier (6.4 ppg 7.6 rpg) have to play well tonight and keep Magic C Dwight Howard (18.6 ppg 13.3 rpg) from having a big scoring game AND dominating the boards.

Howard is not the only guy the Mavs have to worry about on the boards, as the Magic are one of the best teams in the league on the glass with a rebounding differential of +3.1 while Dallas is in the negative at -1.1 rpg.

The Magic have to play good D on Dirk Nowitzki (24.7 ppg), who has really been a thorn in the side of Orlando in the past. In the last 9 games against the Magic the 7-foot German has averaged 28.1 ppg and in his last 14 he has at least 20 points.

Rashard Lewis (14.4 ppg), Jameer Nelson (12.2 ppg), and J.J. Reddick (9.6 ppg) will have to shoot the rock well from the outside so it will open up the lane for Howard.

Betting Trends

Orlando is 3-10-1 ATS in their last 14 road games against teams with a home winning percentage of greater than 60%, 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games playing on 3 or more days rest, and has an Under record of 5-1 in their last 6 road games against teams with a home winning percentage of greater than 60%.

Dallas is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games, 5-26-1 ATS in their last 32 home games, and has an Under record of 4-1 in their last 5 games.

In the last 6 games between these 2 teams in Dallas the Over record is 5-0-1.

Our Selection : Take Dallas +1.5.


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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