Dallas Mavericks at San Antonio Spurs
Friday, 1/14/10, 8:00 PM EDT, TV: ESPN
Dallas is 2-6 since star forward Dirk Nowitzki suffered a sprained knee and dropped a 102-89 contest to Indiana on Tuesday. “I’m not answering any Dirk questions,” head coach Rick Carlisle stated. “We don’t have Dirk, so it’s not a topic that’s worth discussion. We’ve got to win with the guys we have.” The Mavericks have won five of the last seven regular season meetings, but had their four-game winning streak in the series snapped in a 99-93 home loss on December 30, 2010. Nowitzki didn’t play in that particular contest and scored a team-high 26 points in the first meeting of the season, a 103-94 win in San Antonio on November 26, 2010. Dallas is a dominating 12-3 ATS on the road this season and the NBA lines page is the best place to watch all of today’s movement.
The Mavericks were in the midst of scoring 100-plus points in 13 of 16 games until Nowitzki suffered the injury, which has caused them to be held under that particular mark in six of eight contests without him. With the loss to Indiana, Dallas recorded three straight losses for the second time this season. The team managed to score just a single point off Indiana’s eight turnovers in the game. “We couldn’t make shots when we needed it,” said point guard Jason Kidd. “And on the other side, we couldn’t get the stops when we needed it.” It’s been an unfortunate drop off due to injuries for this squad, especially when considering that they finished the 2010 calendar year with the highest winning percentage in the NBA (57-24, .704).
San Antonio has won four straight and eight of 10 to increase its lead over Dallas to six games. The Spurs are coming off an impressive defensive performance in handing Milwaukee a 91-84 loss, holding them to just 33 second-half points. “A lot of different guys are playing very well on different nights,” said forward Tim Duncan. “It’s turned into the record that we have now. “We’re not counting on one individual to try to get it done every night.” Head coach Gregg Popovich has shortened the bench rotation to four players until rookie James Anderson returns in February. San Antonio is 23-15 ATS on the season.
The Spurs hold an 84-62 advantage over the Mavericks in the all-time series and are 47-26 at home. Duncan has paced the squad with 26.5 points and 13.0 rebounds in two games. San Antonio is off to its best 39-game star in franchise history and much of the credit is due to its offensive play. The team’s scoring averaging of 105.1 points is the highest since scoring 106.6 points a night during the 1994-95 season. In addition, their three-point field goal percentage of .397 is near the franchise record (.407).
Bettors will be interested in backing the Mavericks due to their 13-6-1 ATS mark in San Antonio, while the Spurs are 4-0 ATS versus teams with a winning road record.
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