NBA Playoff Betting – (7) Mavericks at (2) Rockets (Game 2)
Dallas Mavericks at Houston Rockets (-5.5, 215 o/u)
The Houston Rockets (1-0, 1-0 home) have dominated the Dallas Mavericks (0-1, 0-1 away) lately. Game 1 of their first-round playoff series wasn’t any different as the Rockets used a 32-point first quarter to down the Mavs 118-108 and grab a 1-0 series lead. The Mavs will look to turn the tide in Game 2 tonight at the Toyota Center in Houston (9:30 PM Eastern).
The teams’ respective stars played each other fairly even in Game 1. Houston’s MVP Candidate James Harden had 24 points and seven assists, while Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki matched him with 24 points and eight boards.
It was the supporting casts that made the difference; Houston had six other players score ten or more points, while limiting the Mavs’ high-scoring duo of Monta Ellis and Chandler Parsons to just 26 points on 10/31 shooting.
After the game, Harden praised the way his team shared the rock.
“[Having seven players in double-figures] means everybody’s touching the basketball, everybody’s getting involved and they can’t only just stop one person,” said Harden. “They put two on the ball. Me, I make the pocket pass, I made the easy play and had confidence in my teammates to make the next one.”
Nowitzki, meanwhile, gave credit where credit was due.
“You’ve got to give the other guys credit,” said the former NBA Finals MVP. “Obviously, we were paying a lot of attention to James, but they made some plays off the pick-and-rolls. It’s just too easy.”
Trend-wise, the Rockets are 19-7 ATS in their last 26 home games and 8-1 ATS in their last nine at home against teams with a winning road record. The Mavs, meanwhile, are 0-9 ATS in their last nine as an underdog of 5.0-10.5 points and 0-8 ATS in their last eight as a road underdog of 5.0-10.5 points. With the line at Houston (-5.5), those trends all point one direction.
Pick: Rockets -5.5.
(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.
