Dallas Mavericks at Los Angeles Lakers
Monday, 1/16/12, 10:30 PM EST, TV: TNT
Opening Point Spread: Los Angeles -4
Current Betting Line: Los Angeles -3.5
Opening Total: 181.5
Current Total: 183
Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker
Dallas has recovered nicely from its slow start and enters Monday’s game on a five-game win streak that includes a dominating 99-60 win over the Sacramento Kings as 12.5-point home favorites. “It’s all dictated on our defense,” commented Mavericks guard Jason Terry. “We want to play great defense and get stops.” During their win streak, the Mavericks haven’t allowed more than 86 points. Star forward Dirk Nowitzki has gotten off to a slower-than-normal start this year, averaging just 17.7 points per game. Dallas is 2-0 ATS as a road underdog of 3.5 to 6 points this year.
The Mavericks have lost 10 of their last 13 regular-season meetings with the Lakers, while also dropping 35 of 39 on the road in this series. Dallas received 68 points from its bench in their win over the Kings and have outscored opponents by a 123-53 combined margin over the last two games. Second-half bettors will be interested to see the score at half, as the team has led at the break in all eight of its wins.
Los Angeles has won five of six games and will look to bounce back from a 102-94 loss to the Clippers as 2.5-point road underdogs. The Lakers have been getting tremendous production out of star guard Kobe Bryant, who has scored 40 or more points in four consecutive games. His performance still wasn’t enough to beat the other team in the city, as the Lakers lost the battle on the glass by eight rebounds. There’s no doubt that this veteran roster will have revenge on its mind after getting bounced out of last year’s playoffs by tonight’s opponent. Los Angeles is 2-1 ATS as a home favorite of 3.5 to 6 points.
The Lakers will need to start getting some other production offensively out of the rest of the lineup outside of Bryant, but forward Pau Gasol averaged just 12.5 points in four games in last year’s playoff series versus the Mavericks. Total bettors will certainly notice that the squad has gone ‘over’ the total in the last two games, which immediately followed three games falling ‘under’ the number.
Bettors will likely back the Lakers due to their 9-3 ATS mark as a favorite of 4.5 or less points, while the Mavericks are 17-23 ATS in January the last two-plus years.
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