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2011 NBA Playoff Odds: Trail Blazers vs. Mavericks Preview | Pick

The 2011 NBA Playoff 7 game series between the #6 Portland Trail Blazers vs. #3 Dallas Mavericks opens on Saturday, here’s the odds to win and our free NBA Series prediction for the 2011 1st round playoff matchup…

WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFF Predictions: Trailblazers vs Mavs Series Preview

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2011 WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS – #3 DALLAS MAVERICKS vs. #8 PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
Saturday, April 16 at Dallas, 9:30 p.m., ESPN
Tuesday, April 19 at Dallas, 9:30 p.m., TNT
Thursday, April 21 at Portland, 10:30 p.m., TNT
Saturday, April 23 at Portland, 5:00 p.m., TNT
*Monday, April 25 at Dallas, TBA
*Thursday, April 28 at Portland, TBA
*Saturday, April 30 at Dallas, TBA

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Odds To Win Series
Portland +175
Dallas -205

Odds To Win Western Conference
Mavs +625
Blazers +2000

Odds To Win NBA Title
PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS +4000
DALLAS MAVERICKS +1200

Injuries of Note: Portland: Greg Oden – C – Out For Season (knee injury)
Elliot Williams – G – Out For Season (knee injury)

Portland: Roddy Beaubois – G – Day-to-Day (sprained foot)
Caron Butler – G – Out Indefinitely (knee injury)
Dominique Jones – G – Out Indefinitely (foot injury)

Season series: tied 2-2

It’s been a strange season for the Dallas Mavericks, who have had about as many peaks and valleys for a team with 50-plus wins as you could imagine. Dallas opened the season with a 24-5 run, and you could make a pretty good case that the Mavs are the streakiest team in the NBA—for better or for worse. Dallas had 10 streaks this season in which it won 3-plus games or lost 3-plus games. The club finished 57-25 (43-37-2 ATS) during the regular season, good enough for the third seed in the Western Conference.

The Mavericks are at least riding one of their positive streaks heading into the playoffs. Dallas has won four consecutive games, including a 121-89 obliteration of New Orleans in the regular-season finale. Dallas is also enjoying a 4-0 run against the spread.

But the team isn’t without a lot of major questions—particularly, can Dallas actually beat a quality opponent? Since March 10, the Mavericks have beaten just one team seeded sixth or higher in the playoffs—the Knicks. In fact, the Mavericks have just two such wins in their past 33 games, with wins over the Knicks and Celtics. Dallas has regularly lost since then to Denver, the Lakers, San Antonio and Portland.

Since Caron Butler went down for the season, an inconsistent lineup and inability to score could haunt the Mavericks in the end. Though Dallas finished respectably in scoring (100.2 points per game, 11th in the NBA), the club has just one bonafide scoring threat—Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki is coming off yet another fine season, and he doesn’t have much help around him. When your second-best scoring option is Jason Terry, you know you’re in trouble. Terry is a good player, but he’s not a No. 2 option on an NBA Championship team—unless Dallas proves everyone wrong this year, of course.

Portland gutted out yet another season filled with injuries and bad luck. Franchise player Brandon Roy suffered through knee problems early in the season and, eventually, the Blazers shut him down for a few months. Somehow, Portland went 48-34 (43-35-4 ATS) Roy has since returned but hasn’t been the same, averaging just 8.0 points per game off the bench. Online Sports Betting at Sportsbook

If there’s a silver-lining to Roy’s injury situation, it’s that it allowed LaMarcus Aldridge to emerge as Portland’s new franchise player. Aldridge enjoyed the best season of his young career, putting up career highs in points (21.8 per game), rebounds (8.8 per game) and field goal percentage (50.0 percent). Aldridge looks primed for the postseason; he was given the final game of the season off, but has put up four consecutive double-doubles.

And even if Roy can’t rekindle the magic in the playoffs, Portland still boasts plenty of depth. The team features six different players averaging double figures this season—and that doesn’t even include take into account starting forward Marcus Camby, who leads the club with 10.3 rebounds per game.

Camby and Aldridge will be especially important in this series. They combined for nearly 20 rebounds a game, but Portland as a team ranked just 27th in the NBA. Dallas, by contrast, ranked 14th on the glass.

Betting Prediction:

Dallas enjoyed a fine regular season, but Portland is already battle tested—the Blazers really showed their mettle by gutting out another unlucky season. The fact that they lost their franchise player—who has returned as a shell of his former self—and still won nearly 50 games is a testament to their hard work and deep rotation.

The Trail Blazers can offer a variety of looks and go with the hot hand; Dallas doesn’t have the same luxury. The Mavericks have to hope Dirk Nowitzki brings an MVP-like performance to every game. Even if Dirk delivers, he’s likely to get worn out as he carries the team on his back. If you’re looking for a first-round upset, go with the deep Blazers, who will wear down the Mavs over the course of the series.

Free NBA Playoff Series Pick: Portland in 7

Ian Van Den Hurk has covered amateur and pro sports for years, including a successful run handicapping anything from football to mixed martial arts.

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One reply on “2011 NBA Playoff Odds: Trail Blazers vs. Mavericks Preview | Pick”

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