NBA Betting Odds: Dallas Mavericks at Phoenix Suns

Added on Feb 17, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NBA

Only two NBA games on the Thursday night sports betting docket as the league heads into the All Star break. We’ll head out west and take a look at a game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns. Both teams are playing well heading into the break–the Mavs have won 9 of their last 10 games and 12 of their last 14. The Suns have won 7 of their last 10 and 12 of their last 17 games.

Dallas Mavericks at Phoenix Suns
February 17, 2011 7:35 PM Pacific

The NBA odds opened this game with Phoenix as a -1 point home favorite but money on the Mavs has pushed the line to Dallas -1′. Dallas played last night at home easily winning and covering over Sacramento while the Suns were idle. Phoenix was last in action on Tuesday night when they managed to escape with a home victory over the Utah Jazz by 1 point. Probably worth mentioning how awful the Suns have played on Thursday nights over the past few years–this was a big story a couple years back since at the time they’d been on an extended losing streak on the nationally televised TNT games. They’ve done better lately, but they’re still on a 7-16 SU run on Thursday’s.

From a betting standpoint, Dallas has been a significantly better investment on the road than at home. They’ve got a solid 18-8 SU record away from Dallas and are 17-9 against the spread. They’ll most likely close as a small favorite here but they’ve been very good as short priced road underdogs (which they were against the opening line). As road dogs of 3 or less the Mavs are 6-2 SU/7-1 ATS on the year. They’ve also taken care of business against opponents with winning records going 17-9 SU/17-8-1 ATS. Suns haven’t been a good play at home this year with a 12-16 ATS record. Phoenix lost at Dallas earlier this year and they’ve not been a very good proposition in ‘revenge’ spots with a 6-13 SU/ATS record. That suggests that they’re vulnerable to bad matchups and aren’t able to make the adjustments necessary the second time around. Dallas has dominated head to head play since 2008, going 6-2 SU/5-3 ATS though Phoenix is 2-1 SU/ATS at home. We’ve not really been sold on the Suns’ focus anyway, and we expect the Mavs to have their ‘head in the game’ more than Phoenix even with the All Star Break on deck. We’ll lay the small price with the Mavs.

Bet Dallas Mavericks -1 over Phoenix Suns