Dallas Mavericks at Chicago Bulls
Thursday, 1/20/11, 8:00 PM EDT, TV: TNT
Opening Point Spread: Chicago -3.5
Current Betting Line: Chicago -3.5
Opening Total: 183
Current Total: 183.5
Dallas ended a season-long six-game losing streak last night with a 109-100 home victory over the Los Angeles Lakers and will now focus on snapping a five-game road skid. “We know what we are capable of doing night in and night out, but we have to bring it,” said Jason Terry. “Of late we’ve had some inconsistency and people going in and out of the lineup.” The Mavericks are 12-6 overall on the road and have compiled a 4-3 mark against Eastern Conference foes away from the American Airlines Center. The team has won 21 of the last 25 regular season meetings with Chicago and has proven victorious in nine of the last 11 match-ups at the United Center. Star forward Dirk Nowitzki tallied a game-high 36 points in the first meeting of the year, which resulted in a 88-83 loss in Dallas. The squad is 12-6 ATS on the road this year and currently getting points on the NBA lines page.
The Mavericks played an incredible second half last night by outscoring the lakers 57-44 over the final 24 minutes. Point guard Jason Kidd scored a season-high 21 points and added 10 assists in the win, while Shawn Marion and Jason Terry added 22 each off the bench. The bench outscored the Lakers second unit 57-31 in the victory. Dallas shot a season-best 55 percent from the field in the win and improved its record to 11-2 when hitting at least half of its shots in games.
Chicago looks to bounce back after suffering a disappointing 83-82 home defeat to the Charlotte Bobcats and looks to win a fourth-straight game against Dallas at the United Center. Many NBA experts attribute the last loss to injuries and point guard Derrick Rose trying to do too much with key players out of the rotation. “We can’t think of fatigue,” said forward Luol Deng. “We’re really trying not to. We feel we have a deep enough team. I don’t want to make excuses.” Rose has averaged 33.0 points on 48.9 percent shooting over his last four home contests, but the team managed to shoot a season low 39 percent at home last time out. Chicago is 17-7 ATS against Southwest division opponents the last three years.
The Bulls may need to rely on their hot shooting from beyond the arc to save the day in tonight’s contest, hitting 48.6 percent of their 3-point shots the past two games (17-35), while opponents have managed to hit 1-of-20 attempts. Chicago is 18-6 over its last 24 games and its 28-14 start is the team’s best since the 1997-98 squad. The team has been even better at home, winning 13 of 15 at the United Center, limiting opponents to 40.1 percent shooting and 86.7 points per game.
Bettors will be interested in backing the Mavericks due to their 10-3 ATS mark as a road underdog, while the Bulls are 5-1 ATS in the last six meetings.
