King James, Cavaliers visit Redeem Team Running Mate Kidd, Mavericks
The Cleveland Cavaliers (1-2 SU, 2-1 ATS) are going to try to even their record on Monday night when they visit the Lone Star State to play the Dallas Mavericks (1-1 SU & ATS) in NBA sports betting action that will get underway at 8:30 PM ET at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
BetUS NBA Basketball Sports Betting Odds: DALLAS -2.5, Total 191.5
Here are some of the NBA pro basketball sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* CLEV has covered seven of its last eight games
* CLEV has lost four of its last six games SU
* CLEV has played 15 of its last 22 games UNDER the total
* CLEV has covered six of its last eight road games
* CLEV has lost its last six road games SU
* DALL has covered four of its last 12 games
* DALL has lost five of its last seven games SU
* DALL has played four of its last five games UNDER the total
* DALL has lost eight of its last 11 home games SU
* DALL has won 19 of its last 25 home games SU
* DALL has played eight of its last 11 home games UNDER the total
Also….
* CLEV has covered five of the last seven meetings
* DALL has won 12 of the last 15 meetings SU
* Five of the last seven meetings have gone UNDER the total
* DALL has won seven of the last eight meetings SU as the home team
* Eight of the last 11 meetings in Cleveland have gone UNDER the total
Interestingly enough, both of these teams have given up the same number of points, on average, as they have scored. But Cleveland was hoping for something better as they made the bold move of trading for a scoring guard – former Milwaukee Buck Mo Williams – expecting that he would take a lot of the scoring pressure off of LeBron James. Well, Williams has tallied just 13.3 points a game, which is mediocre considering what he is supposed to be supplying.
The Cavs have been too careless with the ball, averaging a whopping 17.7 turnovers a game thus far. That’s way too much, when you consider that Dallas, under the court leadership of Jason Kidd, is a lot better in that area (just 9.5 per game). Cleveland’s sloppy play was one factor in a 12-point loss to New Orleans in which the Cavs could not take advantage of the fact that both Tyson Chandler and Peja Stojakovic were out of the lineup. Here, Kidd, who still has something left on the defensive end, could serve to neutralize Williams, who has shot just 9-for-25 in the last two games.
Dallas has been encouraged with its depth, and with Jason Terry, a legit scorer, shot-blocking specialist DeSagana Diop (former Cav – three rejections against Minnesota) and the athletic Gerald Green coming off the bench, they have something to be optimistic about. This number also seems reasonable enough for us, considering Dallas has won 12 of the last 15 meetings and the Cavs have dropped six straight as a visitor. We will lay 2.5 points with Cleveland, the favorite in the BetUS NBA basketball odds.
