NBA Betting: Dallas Mavericks Win Big Over the Portland Trail Blazers 96-76
Portland Trail Blazers at Dallas Mavericks -5
Power forward Dirk Nowitzki made a double-double stint scoring a season-high 37 points and 12 rebounds and guard Jason Terry added 24, helping the Dallas Mavericks put aside talk of whether Jason Kidd of the New Jersey Nets is about to become their teammate and beat the Portland Trail Blazers 96-76 on Wednesday night.
The Dallas Mavericks victory is also a win against the spread, easily covering the -5 point spread given by the NBA odds makers.
The Dallas Mavericks had lost their last two games, blowing early 10-point leads with awful second halves each time. They made sure that didn’t happen again, holding the Portland Trail Blazers to 33 points in the final two quarters on their way to a 10th straight home win.
Brandon Roy scored 25 points for the Portland Trail Blazers, which goes into the All-Star break having lost four straight and six of eight. Still, the Portland Trail Blazers may use their down time over the next week to savor going 28-24 so far after winning only 32 games all last season. Portland Trail Blazers LaMarcus Aldridge, who grew up in the area, scored six points, ending his run of three straight 20-point games.
Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw were the only double-digit scorers besides Brandon Roy, each having 13 points.
In addition to Josh Howard’s absence because of a back injury, the Dallas Mavericks also was without starting point guard Devin Harris (ankle) and key reserve Jerry Stackhouse (hamstring).
The Dallas Mavericks regained a better record of 34-17 while the Portland Trail Blazers drop to a record of 28-23 this 2007-08 NBA regular season.
Aiming to grab another win, the Dallas Mavericks will be on the road to play against Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns on February 14 while the Portland Trail Blazers will host Mike Bibby and the Sacramento Kings on February 19.
