Dallas Mavericks at Oklahoma City Thunder
Monday, 12/27/10, 8:00 PM EDT
Opening Point Spread: Oklahoma City PK
Current Betting Line: Oklahoma City -2
Opening Total: 204.5
Current Total: 203.5
Dallas brings an NBA-best 10-1 road record into tonight’s contest against Oklahoma City and will be looking to pick up its 17th win in 18 games. “We feel like we’re one of the best teams in the league, if not the best right now,” said forward Caron Butler. “We’re playing great basketball, so we want to capitalize on every opportunity.” The Mavericks have been off for five full days since a 105-99 win over the Magic, as Butler led six double-digit scorers with 20 points. Offensively, the team has scored 100 or more points in 14 of its last 17 games and forward Dirk Nowitzki leads the charge and ranks sixth in the league averaging 24.5 points. Dallas is 8-0 ATS as an underdog this year and currently getting points on the NBA lines page.
The Mavericks face the Thunder for the second time this season and they snapped a two-game losing streak against them with a 111-103 victory at Oklahoma City on November 24. Nowitzki paced the squad with a game-high 34 points and Dallas is 5-3 against the Thunder since the franchise began playing in Oklahoma city in 2008. As mentioned previously, the offense has been performing at a high level over the past 17 games, but the defense has been great for the team the entire season. Dallas has not allowed a single opponent to shoot at least 50 percent from the floor against the Mavericks the entire year.
Oklahoma City is coming off an impressive 114-106 win over Denver on Christmas Day and star forward Kevin Durant scored a season-high 44 points. He’s currently leading the league in scoring at 28.1 points per game. “Kevin was a special player tonight,” said coach Scott Brooks. “He was on fire. He wasn’t even hitting the rim.” Brooks has a great luxury of mixing lineups together with dynamic talents on the floor, starting with Durant and continuing on with Russell Westbrook, Jeff Green, James Harden and Serge Ibaka. Oklahoma City is 16-14 ATS on the year and 111-87 ATS over the past three seasons.
The Thunder are currently in the midst of a four-game home stand and many of the players have commented that it came at the perfect time after dropping two of their previous three games. “We’ve just got to find a way to get back to our principles and strategies to how we had it back on that five-game winning streak,” said Green. Oklahoma City is 11-5 at home and has tallied an 8-4 mark against the Western Conference at the Arena. It’s important to note that the squad has won eight straight games against clubs with a winning record.
Bettors will be interested in knowing that the Mavericks are 14-3-1 ATS as a road underdog, while the Thunder are 6-1 ATS as a favorite.
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