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Spurs, Mavericks meet in San Antonio Friday
By: Freddy Wander - StatFox
Published: 3/27/2015  at  12:13:00 AM
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DALLAS MAVERICKS (45-27)

at SAN ANTONIO SPURS (45-26)

Tip-off: Friday, 8:30 p.m. ET
Line: San Antonio -8.5, Total: 207

The Dallas Mavericks stay in Texas to take on the San Antonio Spurs for the second time this week.

The Mavericks have not played quite as well since the All-Star break, but have done a solid job in recent games with wins in five of their past eight contests SU (2-6 ATS). It hasn’t all been good, though, as their past two losses came when they were considered the favorite against Memphis and Phoenix. On Tuesday they matched up with this Spurs group and were getting 3.5 points at home as they pulled out a nice 101-94 victory. It was a huge third quarter in which they outscored San Antonio 33-20 that aided them in the win as they ended with a solid 48.3% shooting on all attempts. The Spurs have been playing some of their best basketball of the year, going 11-3 SU (10-4 ATS) since Feb. 27th as they have won by double-digits in all but one of those victories. The offense has been on fire in that time, scoring 112.4 PPG as they held opponents under 100 points seven times. They continued to play some phenomenal basketball on Wednesday night when they took on the Thunder and proceeded to put up a 130-91 dismantling as 7.5-point home favorites. San Antonio made an incredible 51-of-88 shots (58% FG), including 13-of-21 threes (62% 3PM), in the win as it outrebounded Oklahoma City 50-36. Dallas has been decent when playing as the road team and is 20-15 SU (17-18 ATS) in away games as the Spurs have gone 27-8 SU (18-18 ATS) at home. This is actually the fourth meeting between these teams on the season and before the Mavericks had a come-from-behind win on Tuesday, the clubs split the first two contests both SU and ATS. Interestingly, though, the losing team was the one who covered each time as it lost by an average of 3.5 PPG. In the past three years, San Antonio has put up a solid 13-5 SU record (10-8 ATS) against this Dallas team and is 8-1 SU (6-3 ATS) at home in that time. Trends show that the Mavs are 46-33 ATS (58%) in all road games over the past two seasons while the Spurs have gone 21-7 ATS (75%) in March games over the same period. The injury report has both SF Richard Jefferson (Back) and PG J.J. Barea (Ankle) listed as questionable for Dallas as PF Aron Baynes (Ankle) is questionable on San Antonio’s side of the ball.

Can the Spurs earn a big home victory over the Mavericks Friday? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2014-15 season. StatFox Forecaster has a strong 55% ATS record (186-155-2) in featured games this season. In terms of Best Bets, the experts have a huge 62% ATS (126-76-4) record since Feb. 1, led by StatFox Brian who has a lofty 63% ATS (22-13-1) mark in Best Bets since Feb. 4, and is now 58% ATS (61-45-1) in season Best Bets. StatFox Gary has a stellar 60% ATS (35-23-1) mark in NBA Best Bets since Jan. 1, and is 58% ATS (61-45-1) this season. StatFox Scott is also sizzling with a 61% ATS record (41-26-1) in Best Bets since Dec. 21, improving his record to 56% ATS (60-47-1) for the season. StatFox Dave is a scorching 69% ATS (29-13) in NBA Best Bets since Jan. 28, while StatFox Zach is a robust 68% ATS (40-19-1) in NBA Best Bets since Jan. 2.

Dallas has been one of the elite offensive groups in the NBA this year and it ranks third with 104.6 PPG, making 46.1% of its shots (5th in league). The Mavs aren’t quite as efficient on defense, tough, allowing opponents to score 101.0 PPG (10th-worst in league) on 44.9% shooting (13th-worst in league). SG Monta Ellis (19.3 PPG, 4.2 APG, 1.9 SPG) had shot 7-for-31 (23% FG) in his previous two games before going off for 38 points, five assists and two steals in the last meeting with San Antonio on Tuesday. He also did well in the previous two matchups with them this year, scoring 32.0 PPG with 3.5 APG and 2.4 SPG. PF Dirk Nowitzki (17.3 PPG, 6.0 RPG) had his first double-double (15 points, 13 rebounds) since Feb. 11th on Tuesday despite hitting a mere 6-of-16 shots in the win. He didn’t shoot well in his previous face-off with the Spurs either, as just 4-of-14 shots went in for 13 points after having a solid game (18 points, 6 assists) in the season opener. SF Chandler Parsons (15.6 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.0 SPG) has had a solid month of March with 18+ points in 4-of-8 games as he made 51.5% of hits shots in that time. He hit just 8-of-25 shots (32% FG) with 10.5 PPG and 7.5 RPG his first two times against San Antonio but did better (15 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals) in the win on Tuesday night.

The Spurs have played their usual style of efficient offensive with great ball movement this year and are putting up 102.8 PPG (9th in league) behind 46.3% shooting (5th in league). They have been solid on defense as well with opponents scoring 97.8 PPG (9thin league) on 44.5% shooting (13th in league). SF Kawhi Leonard (16.0 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 2.3 SPG) has had three or more steals in four of the past five games and has seven 20+ point performances in 12 March contests. He only played in the most recent game against Dallas this year, missing the other two with injuries, and went for 19 point, nine rebounds and four steals against them on Tuesday. PG Tony Parker (14.9 PPG, 4.9 APG) is playing at the top of his game in March and is coming off a great game against the Thunder in which he made 10-of-14 shots for 21 points with six rebounds, six assists and three steals. He’s played in two of the games against the Mavericks this year, putting up 15.5 PPG (46% FG) with 3.0 APG and 1.0 SPG. PF Tim Duncan (14.0 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 1.9 BPG) has fallen off a little as the season moves along and has averaged a mere 12.6 PPG and 6.2 RPG over the past five contests. He’s gone for 10.0 PPG, 10.0 RPG and 2.0 BPG in the two contests he’s been in against Dallas this season.


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