Los Angeles Lakers at Dallas Mavericks
Wednesday, 1/19/10, 9:00 PM EDT, TV: ESPN
Opening Point Spread: Los Angeles -3
Current Betting Line: Los Angeles -3
Opening Total: 190
Current Total: 190.5
Los Angeles has won eight of the last 10 meetings against Dallas and that particular success is surprising due to star Kobe Bryant averaging just 16.3 points in the last four meetings. The Lakers are 14-7 on the road this season and have posted a 7-6 mark away from the Staples Center against Western Conference opponents. “We’ve been playing better,” coach Phil Jackson stated as his team prepares for a third game in four nights. “We know that we’ve got ways to improve, things to do, but our intensity was right on a back-to-back night.” The team is coming off a solid 101-94 home win over Oklahoma City, as the defense held Thunder star Kevin Durant to 8-of-24 shooting. Los Angeles is 19-24 ATS on the season and currently a slight road favorite on the NBA lines page for Wednesday’s contest.
The Lakers and Mavericks split last season’s series 2-2 after completing a 3-0 sweep in the series during the 2008-09 campaign. Los Angeles holds a 95-30 all-time series advantage between the two franchises. In Dallas, the team has gone 5-5 over the last 10 games at American Airlines Center and are 26-12 overall against them under the guidance of Jackson. Los Angeles has still won seven of its last eight games and now will face a challenging schedule starting with tonight’s game and then contests against Denver and Utah.
Dallas is looking to avoid its longest losing streak in 12 years and is coming off a 103-89 loss to Detroit to end a winless four-game road trip. “Our competitive level has to come up, it is as simple as that,” said coach Rick Carlisle. “That just wasn’t acceptable.” The only good news for the Mavericks in that particular loss was receiving 32 points from star forward Dirk Nowitzki, who is starting to find his groove after missing nine games with a sprained knee. The team has still managed to score an NBA-worst 89.4 points per game over the last 11 games. Dallas is 1-5 ATS as a home underdog of 3.5 to 6 points the last three years and 41-66 ATS at home over that same span.
The Mavericks are 14-8 overall at home and have captured an 8-4 record against Western Conference opponents at tonight’s venue. Carlisle is just 7-12 all-time against the Lakers and Nowitzki managed to averaging a double-double (26.0 points, 10.8 rebounds) against them last season. The team’s recent woes is extremely rare considering only the Spurs have gone longer in avoiding a six-game losing streak. After winning 17-of-18 and improving to 24-5 on the year, the Mavericks are just 2-9 in their last 11 games.
Bettors will be interested in backing the Lakers due to the road team being 9-2-1 ATS in the last 12 meetings, while the Mavericks are 0-6 ATS as an underdog.
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