Dallas Mavericks vs. Boston Celtics Picks & Odds: January 31st
Dallas Mavericks @ Boston Celtics u187.0 (-110)
Thursday January 31 ’08 8:05p
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The first of TNT’s offerings tonight finds the (31-13) Dallas Mavericks taking on the NBA’s best (35-8) Boston Celtics in a game that’s been circled on both teams calendars for quite some time. The Mavericks currently sit a half game in back of the New Orleans Hornets for Southwest Division supremacy, while the Celtics boast the best record in the league and hold an 11-game lead over the Toronto Raptors in the Atlantic Division. Dallas has been outstanding at home this year (20-3), but they’ve been very beatable on the road coming into tonight’s clash with an 11-10 SU road record. They also treated their backers poorly when playing the role of visitor only covering 9 of their 21 overall games. The Celtics at one point had been pointspread
Gold at home, but they now only sport a winning mark at 13-10 ATS.
The Mavs were last in action on Tuesday night when they went into Memphis and handed the Grizzlies a 103-84 defeat. They covered the 5.5-point spread with ease and it was the second game in a row that they held their opponent to 80+ points. The Mavs have turned their play up a couple notches winning 8 of their L/10 overall games, but they’ve only managed a 4-6 ATS mark during that stretch. The Mavericks have made minced meat out of the Celtics the L/10 times they’ve squared off by winning nine of those contests. They’re 9-4-1 ATS the L/14 times they’ve faced each other, and that number includes their 5-2 ATS mark their L/7 trips to Boston.
The Celtics last took the court without the services of both Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, but still managed a road win and cover as they bludgeoned the woeful Miami Heat 117-87. Tony Allen, Rajon Rondo, Leon Powe, and Eddie House all registered 20+ points in the win. Boston’s alternated wins their L/4 games, but they come into this contest winners in 6 of their L/10 overall with a 5-5 ATS mark. Boston hasn’t had much success against Dirk and the Mavs of late, but this is a much different looking Celtics squad than the ones Dallas faced in the past.
Vegas tagged the Celtics short 1-point home chalks in this spot with the ‘Total’ set at 184.5. Once the line was posted, bettors immediately bought into the Celtics raising the game line to 2.5-points. They also foresee a higher scoring contest since the ‘Total’ has inflated to its current number of 186. While The Over is 5-0 ATS the L/5 meetings, I’m expecting a much lower scoring game here with a couple of key cogs out for both teams. The Mavs have seen the Under cash in 5 of their L/6 overall road games, while the C’s have played to the low side of the ‘Total’ in 13 of their 22 home games this season with one push. Both clubs Defenses will rule the show, so hit the Under up for a nice sized position….
