San Antonio +3½ over DALLAS
The Dallas Mavericks may be without All-Star Dirk Nowitzki, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, when they try to end the San Antonio Spurs' nine-game winning streak in a Midwest Division showdown tonight. Nowitzki, who was injured for the Mavericks' first meeting of the season with the Spurs on December 11, is a game-time decision after spraining his right ankle Wednesday in practice. The Mavericks are coming off an easy 105-79 drubbing of Atlanta on Tuesday, and have won its last three on the heels of a three-game skid. Meanwhile, the Spurs set an NBA record by winning eight straight games on the same road trip and returned home Tuesday to rout the hapless Denver Nuggets, 101-76, in a PRO INFO SPORTS winning selection.
In taking a closer look at the Mavs recent winning streak, it must be noted that the victories came against Miami, Memphis and Atlanta, who are a combined 52 games below .500, while the Spurs have recently beat the Blazers, Lakers, and Kings on the road. There is no question here who is playing better at this point in the season. Dallas, since their torrid start, has been pretty mediocre, and have had great difficulty winning "the big game", blowing the 29-point lead against the Lakers in LA, getting beat twice by Sacramento, and have already lost to the Spurs once this year. In fact, the Mavericks have lost four straight meetings to the Spurs and have dropped 7 of the 8 vs. San Antonio, including the last 3 at home. Other numbers indicate that the Mavs are in a weak spot here. They are 1-7 ATS with a "totals" line of more than 200, 1-7 ATS off a SU win of 20+ points, and 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games overall.
In the Spurs last 9 games, they have gone 8-1 ATS. They are also 11-2-1 ATS over the past 7+ seasons as a Thursday road underdog, including taking the last 6 straight. Since the start of the 2000 season, are 9-2 ATS on the road off a home win vs. an opponent off a home win, including an umblemished 4-0 mark as an underdog. In an NBA Super System of note, the league is 10-2 ATS as a road dog off a home fave SU/ATS win over Denver. We do expect this game to be a good old fashion Texas shootout, going down to the wire; however, we like the Spurs chances of coming through in the clutch once again.
PROJECTED FINAL SCORE: SAN ANTONIO 98 DALLAS 97