Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs on Sunday and we will see Dallas Mavericks travel to the AT&T Center in San Antonio to take on the San Antonio Spurs. The game has a start time of 1:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on TNT. Vegas odds have the Spurs listed as 9 point favorites, while the total sits at 206.
Stat Packs: The Dallas Mavericks come in as the 8th seed in the Western Conference with a 49-33 record overall and a 23-18 record on the road. Dallas is a very good offensive team as they come in ranked 8th in scoring (104.8 ppg), 4th in shooting (47.4%), 2nd in 3pt shooting (38.4%) and 3rd in FT shooting (79.5%). Dirk Nowitzki leads the offense with 21.7 ppg. Second on the team in scoring is Monta Ellis, who averages 19.1 ppg, while Samuel Dalembert leads the team in rebounding at 6.8 rpg. Vince Carter (11.9 ppg), Jose Calderon (11.4 ppg) and Shawn Marion (10.4 ppg) round out the double digit scorers on the team. Brandan Wright averaged 10 points off the bench on 14-of-19 shooting over the final three games of the regular season. Defensively the numbers don't look as good, as they 20th in points allowed (102.4 ppg) and 23rd in defensive FG% (46.4%).
The San Antonio Spurs come in at 62-20, which was the best record in the NBA this year and they also were a very solid 32-9 on their home floor. They do come in having lost 3 of their last 5 games but for the most part they already had the number 1 seed already wrapped up. The Spurs come in ranked 6th in scoring (105.4 ppg), 2nd in FG% (48.6%) and 1st in 3pt shooting (39.7%). Tony Parker leads the team in scoring at 16.7 ppg, while Tim Duncan leads them in rebounding (9.7) and is the second leading scorer on the team averaging 15.1 ppg. Kawhi Leonard is third at 12.6 ppg, while Manu Ginobil is 4th at 12.3 ppg. Defensively this is a solid team, as they rank 6th in points allowed (97.6 ppg) and 8th in defensive FG% defense (44.4%). The Spurs have a 16-13 advantage in playoff games between the two teams, winning a first-round series in the last meeting in 2010.
Pick: Boy I can see plenty of points in this one. These teams played 4 times this year and those games averaged 213 ppg, with 3 of the 4 putting up at least 209 points. The Spurs have averaged 106.3 ppg at home this year and they scored 112.5 ppg vs the Mavericks this year. Dallas has allowed 102.4 ppg on the year and are 23rd in the league in defensive FG% (46.4%), so you can expect the spurs to get their share of points in this one. The Mavericks have averaged 102.2 ppg on the road this year and while the Spurs have allowed just 97.4 ppg at home, they have allowed 106.2 ppg in their last 5 games overall. Both teams will push tempo, even in the playoffs, and that should net us at least 210 points in this one.
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