NBA Odds – Dallas Mavericks at Portland Trail Blazers
Dallas Mavericks at Portland Trail Blazers (-2, 206 o/u)
The Dallas Mavericks (3-1) will visit the Portland Trail Blazers (2-2) at the Moda Center tonight at 10:30 p.m. Eastern in the second game of the TNT doubleheader.
After one week of NBA action, the Dallas Mavericks have the best offense in the league, and it’s not a close race. The Mavs are averaging 111.8 points per game. Next is Golden State at 109.5, and the Boston at 107.8. Ball movement has been key for the Mavs, as they are averaging a solid 22.8 assists per night. On the other side, the Portland Trail Blazers are outscoring their opponents by an average of five points per game, but they only have a 2-2 record to show for it. The Blazers routed the Thunder and Cavs at home, but lost by single digits to the Warriors (in Portland) and the Kings (in Sacramento).
As usual, forward Dirk Nowitzki leads the charge for Dallas; the big German is putting up 20.8 PPG. New addition Chandler Parsons has done exactly what the Mavs brass had hoped, putting up 18.8 points per night and taking some of the offensive load off of Nowitzki. Center Tyson Chandler is doing his best to keep Dallas respectable on defense; he leads the team in rebounds with 8.8 per game to go along with 1.8 blocks per night.
For the Blazers, LaMarcus Aldridge has had a great start to the season, averaging 25.0 PPG, 6.7 RPG, and 1.7 BPG. Guard Wesley Matthews Jr. is also off to a hot start, averaging just over 19 points per night, three more than his average from last season. The Blazers will be hoping he can keep it up and turn into a viable second option for Portland on offense, as that would allow point guard Damian Lillard to focus on spreading the floor and dropping dimes, instead of putting up jumpers.
In the last ten meetings in this series, the Mavericks have won seven, including four of the last five. But the home team are currently two-point favorites.
(Photo credit: Keith Allison from Baltimore, USA (00033631) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.)
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
