Dallas heads to the Windy City to conclude a three game road trip, looking to extend an eight game win streak. Both the Mavericks and Phoenix are on amazing tears, as Avery Johnson’s team has won 21 of 22 games. Now his remarkable team will attempt to continue conspicuous success in Chicago, where they have managed to win seven straight games at the United Center.
Backers of Dallas have enjoyed the fruits of their success since the calendar turned to 2007, with an 8-3-1 against the spread record. The Mavs have been marvelous in laying out the competition winning by a 10 PPG in compiling 11-1 record since the new year. No matter what, this Dallas squad is not getting full of themselves with all the winning streaks. After making it to the Finals and losing the idea is now to finish the job. "I don't think we have the luxury of floating through the regular season," Jerry Stackhouse said. "We haven't won anything. The team that has the trophy and has the rings, maybe they have to try to find some motivation during the season.” Stackhouse went on to say "Our motto all season is to finish. You can't finish if you don't get started. We feel we've just started to get to the level where want to consistently play." This Dallas team though supremely confident, knows it has to keep on winning to have homecourt advantage again in the playoffs. As the Mavs and Phoenix trade W’s, they realize one bad week and they could be chasing the Suns.
Even with the sparkling 19-3 and 12-9-1 against the spread road record, Dallas will see what looks to be a very different Bulls team on there home court. Chicago is 18-6 at the United Center and is the best bet of all home teams in the NBA with its 15-9 against the spread record. What has been most impressive is Da Bulls have won by 10.8 points a game on the home court. This home court edge has soured slightly this month with Chicago failing to cover before the home fans four different times. General manager John Paxson realizes his team’s needs for more inside scoring and has inquired about the availability of Pau Gasol from Memphis. "I know our main weakness," Paxson said. "We need a four (power forward) who can score. It's obvious. I'd like to address that. But I'm not going to mortgage the organization for that." With the East not having any superb teams like the West, any number of clubs could make it to the Finals from this conference. If a team like Chicago could make the right deal and it works out, they could become a frontrunner with strong second half.
Dallas will once again be a road favorite as stated at Sportbook.com. The Mavs are 13-3 and 8-6-2 against the spread and open as a 4.5-point choice. With Chicago’s impressive home record, this will be the third time all season they have been tagged a home underdog and have covered both times they were placed in this role.
Dallas is 19-9 UNDER in road games after playing 4 consecutive games as favorite, winning by an average of three points in all qualified games. Chicago is 8-1 UNDER in home games in non-conference games this season posting a winning margin of 5.3 points a game. With this information the Bulls might be primed to pull down a winner with the total going under the listed 190.
With two very good NBA games and a strong cast of college baskets games, the Live Betting Odds page tells you all the important numbers about tonight’s action.
Peter is an experienced sports writer and handicapper, who has written for the sports industry for over 10 years. He has years writing for Sports Scene, sports consulting on 33 Made for Television and Major Motion Pictures.
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