NBA Betting Preview: Indiana Pacers at Dallas Mavericks

Added on Mar 04, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NBA

More NBA non-conference action on Friday’s card as the Indiana Pacers head to the American Airlines Arena to take on the Dallas Mavericks. Pacers have improved dramatically under new coach Frank Vogel and currently hold down the 8th and final playoff spot in the East leading 9th place Charlotte by 1 game. The Mavericks have been one of the hottest teams in the league over the past month winning 9 of their last 10 and narrowing San Antonio’s lead atop their division and the Western Conference to 5.5 games.

Indiana Pacers at Dallas Mavericks
March 4, 2011 5:35 PM Pacific

Had this matchup taken place last season we would have been looking at the Pacers as a good sized road underdog. The Mavs have been an awful investment at home in recent seasons-since 2008 they’re just 47-68 at American Airlines Arena and 15-21 as a home chalk in this price range (6′ to 9 points). They’re not great this year in either role–just 14-14 ATS at home and 4-7 ATS in the aforementioned pointspread range. The Pacers have come on strong since their coaching change though they’ve slipped somewhat of late failing to cover in 6 of their last 8 games.

The way Dallas is playing lately, however, we just don’t want to step in front of the speeding Mavericks’ freight train. Dallas has a 16-1 SU record in their last 17 games with the only loss by a single point at Denver. They’re 1 point away from an 18 game winning streak. They’re also on a 13-4 ATS run. Pacers have done well against lower level teams but even with their better play of late have struggled when stepping up in class. Indiana is 12-17 ATS as an underdog, 9-18 ATS against teams with winning records and 3-7 ATS as a road dog in this price range. Credit to new coach Vogel for getting the team to play harder but they’ve still dropped 7 of their last 9 to opponents over .500. Mavs lost at Indiana earlier this season and they’ve been a good play in ‘revenge’ spots going 9-5 ATS. Most significantly, the Mavericks have proven to be a momentum driven team this year–while some teams struggle to maintain intensity and cover margins as the wins pile up Dallas is the other extreme. After 3 or more straight wins the Mavs are 23-4 SU/19-7 ATS.

Bet Dallas Mavericks -8′ over Indiana Pacers