Phoenix Suns at Dallas Mavericks Betting Odds


Opening Line: Phoenix +4.5 / Dallas -4.5 O/U 218

Time: 9 PM EST Wednesday February 17, 2010 on ESPN

Tonight in a Western Conference match up the Dallas Mavericks host the Phoenix Suns. The Mavs lost their first game after the All Star break with their new look lineup and they need to learn how to win with their new players in order to stay in the top 4 in the West and host a first round playoff series. Currently the Mavs are in the 4th spot in the West and the Suns are in 5th, but they are only ½ game behind Dallas.

This season the Mavericks are 15-9 at home and 21-31 ATS and the Suns are 14-15 on the road and 27-25-1 ATS.

Both teams played last night, but with different results, as the Mavericks lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder 99-86 while the Suns ran past the Memphis Grizzlies winning 109-95.

After struggling on the road for most of the season the Suns have won their last 6 games away from the Valley of the Sun.

Dallas has won 4 straight games against Phoenix at home and in those games Dirk Nowitzki (24.6 ppg) has averaged 32.8 ppg.

The Mavs are fortunate they pulled the trigger on the big trade that brought Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson from Washington, as in their last game they lost starting C Erick Dampier to a dislocated finger. At least now they have Haywood (9.7 ppg 10.3 rpg) down low.

The Suns are the highest scoring team in the league and the Mavs will have to try to slow them down tonight, as if this is an up-tempo game Phoenix has the advantage.

Amare Stoudemire (21.2 ppg 8.6 rpg) is on the trading block, but he is still on the Suns and will have to play well tonight both on offense and on the boards.

Haywood has to man the paint against Stoudemire and Phoenix C Robin Lopez (7.5 ppg), who has averaged 12.2 ppg since becoming the starter.

One player the Mavs have to key on is Jason Richardson (14.7 ppg), as he has averaged 21 ppg in the 2 meetings between these teams and when he scores at least 17 points the Suns are 18-2.

Phoenix is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 road games, 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games as a road underdog of 0.5-4.5, and has an Under record of 4-0 in their last 4 road games.

Dallas is 7-20 ATS in their last 27 games, 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games against team with a winning record, and has an Over record of 4-1 in their last 5 home games.

In the last 6 meetings between these 2 teams the total has gone Over 5 times.

Our Selection : Just as we forecasted yesterday the Mavs will need some time to adjust after their blockbuster trade during the All Star break. They were easily handled by the Thunder last night 99-86 and now get zero practice time to get some kind of team cohesion. It doesn't hurt that the Suns have been on a roll as of late winning their last 5 games away from home. Take Phoenix +4


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