The first round of the NBA Playoffs continues on Monday as the Dallas Mavericks travel to Oklahoma to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder. The game is scheduled for a 9:30 pm start time and it will be televised live on TNT. Currently the odds have Oklahoma City favored by 6.5 points with the total sitting at 194.5 points for the contest.
Free Analysis: Dallas reached last year's finals by orchestrating a pair of fourth-quarter comebacks to upend the Thunder. Saturday night, it was the Mavericks on the receiving end of a stunning comeback as they failed to hold on to a late seven-point advantage. Dallas superstar Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 11 points in the final five minutes to keep the Mavericks ahead, was gutted. "It's tough. This is definitely as tough of a loss as you can get," he said. Dallas really attacked the glass on Saturday, outrebounding Oklahoma City 42-36 while pulling down 10 offensive boards. C Brendan Haywood had just four points, but grabbed seven rebounds (five offensive) in his 19 minutes of action. Although Nowitzki shot well (8-for-18 FG, 9-of-10 FT), he committed a game-high six turnovers and finished with just five rebounds in 36 minutes. SG Vince Carter was off the mark with his shot (5-for-14 FG), but had seven rebounds and a strong +7 rating. Jason Terry scored 20 points for Dallas but had zero in the second half. PG Jason Kidd made only 2-of-8 field goal tries, but contributed heavily in other areas with seven steals, six rebounds, five assists and just two turnovers. The Mavs have shown their resiliency this season, going 16-14 ATS after an SU defeat. The Thunder are just 21-26 ATS after an SU victory, which was no easy task on Saturday. Four players logged at least 35 minutes with Durant playing 44. Despite his game-winning heroics, the NBA’s leading scorer made just 10-of-27 shots including 1-of-6 from downtown. But he didn’t let that affect the other parts of his game, tallying four blocks, six rebounds and four assists. PG Russell Westbrook was certainly bothered by the defense of Jason Kidd, finishing the game with five assists and just two turnovers. However, Westbrook was able to penetrate, making 13-of-23 FG and only settling for a pair of three-point tries. PF Serge Ibaka had a well-rounded evening, scoring 22 points on 9-of-12 FG, while chipping in five blocks and six boards. SG James Harden showed no ill effects from the Metta World Peace concussion that kept him out of the final two regular season games. Harden needed just seven field-goal attempts to finish with 19 points, as he went 9-of-10 from the foul line. The only negative was his five turnovers. Head to head, the Mavericks are 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings and 18-7-1 ATS in the last 26 meetings in Oklahoma City, while the underdog is 18-7-1 ATS in the last 26 meetings and road team is 19-6-1 ATS in the last 26 meetings.
Free Pick: I had the Thunder in the opener, but gonna go the other way with this one. The Road team is 19-6-1 the last 26 in the series and the Mavs are 9-1-1 ATS in their last 11 playoff games, plus 8-3-1 ATS in their last 12 as a road dog of 5-10. The Mavs really controlled game one, especially on the boards where they outrebounded the Thunder 42-36 and pulled down 10 offensive rebounds. Durant didn't really shoot well and while that may not happen again, i still see the dallas defense being able to contain him for the most part in this one. Four Thunder starters logged 35+ minutes, while Durant, Harden, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka combined to score 94 of the Thunder's 99 points in Game 1, so there is not a lot of depth here and that should allow the Mavs to be able to keep this one close and maybe even pull out a late win. They are the defending champs and just not ready to give up that crown. Look for another down to the wire game.
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Betting Strategies: Handicapping NBA Playoffs
Host Marco D'Angelo and Pregame Pro Vegas Runner discuss their strategies about betting the NBA Playoffs and being successful.