NBA Betting – OKC Thunder at Dallas Mavericks

Oklahoma City Thunder at Dallas Mavericks (-3)

Russell Westbrook will try to keep his MVP form tonight he and the Oklahoma City Thunder (37-29, 14-20 away) visit the Dallas Mavericks (42-25, 22-11 home) at the American Airlines Center (8:30 PM Eastern).

Without Kevin Durant in the lineup, the Thunder have survived thanks to Westbrook’s other-worldly performances over the last few weeks. He’s averaged just over 35 PPG in his last six games and notched three triple-doubles.

On Sunday, Westbrook stayed hot with a 36-point, 11-rebound outing in a 109-100 win over Chicago.

“My job is to keep attacking,” Westbrook said after the game. “We know we have to come out and compete, come out and get a win. And we have to go get another one [Monday] in Dallas.”

The last time Westbrook and the Thunder met the Mavericks (back on February 19), the point guard poured in 34 points and ten assists while his team torched Dallas 104-89.

Dallas has been up-and-down recently, winning just three of its last eight. But they put in a whale of a game on Friday, downing the (albeit shorthanded) L.A. Clippers by 30 (129-99). Chandler Parsons had 22 points in the win, while seven players recorded double-figures.

“We were due to play better,” said Dallas coach Rick Carlisle. “The challenge now is to sustain this. It’s going to be a challenge, but we made significant strides.”

The Mavs are three-point favorites for tonight’s game.  OKC has won seven of the last ten in the series, but Dallas is 3-1 ATS in the last four.

(Photo credit: Keith Allison (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)