Los Angeles Lakers vs Denver Nuggets Preview

Added on Apr 08, 2009 by sbworld in

The Utah Jazz (47-30) should get all they can handle on Wednesday night in their road game against the Dallas Mavericks (46-31). The Jazz have been the better team this season but their 15-23 road record pales in comparison against the Mavericks’ 28-9 record at home this season and that should make for a competitive clash between two teams hoping to make a splash in the NBA playoffs.

Utah has already clinched a playoff spot and currently sits in the 7th position in the Western Conference postseason standings while the Mavericks are in the 8th spot yet have not clinched yet. They are currently 4 games ahead of the Phoenix Suns (42-35) and a win today would go a long way toward getting Dallas a shot at the title.

These teams have met up three times this season with Utah winning home games by final scores of 115-87 and 97-88 while Dallas won their home game 115-108. Utah has covered the point spread in 2 of the 3 games for those who made basketball betting choices on the games between the teams this season. The Jazz have actually covered 5 of the last 6 times these teams have met up with the under and over being an even 5-5 over the course of the last 10 matchups.

BetOnline lists the betting line favoring the home-team Mavericks by 3 points with an over/under total at 208 points. The steam has been on the Jazz after Dallas opened at -3.5 and the betting total has been steamed up quite a bit from its 206 opener. The betting public seems to favor the Mavericks at roughly a 65% rate according to many bet-tracking websites.

The only injury news of late has to do with Utah forward C.J. Miles (9.2 PPG, 2.3 RPG) who missed Utah 108-94 road win in New Orleans last time out. Although the Jazz have covered every game he has missed, Miles is still a valuable member of the Utah bench and is currently listed as questionable with a dislocated finger.

Both teams have had lots of time to prepare for this game with April 5th being the last time each stepped on the court and with 2 days of preparation time the Mavericks have been more successful this season with a 7-4 record compared to Utah’s 8-9 mark on the year.

This game has a ton of playoff seeding on the line and both teams should put in a hard-nosed effort en route to a playoff-atmosphere type game that will be exciting to watch and even more exciting to bet on.