NBA Basketball Matchup: Mavericks vs Spurs
In the battle of over the Lone Star State, the Dallas Mavericks will be looking to keep from embarking on another losing streak after falling to the Lakers on Wednesday, when they travel south to take on San Antonio on Thursday.
Date/Time: 8:30 PM ET, Friday, March 23, 2012
Venue: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
Broadcast: TBD
Spread: OFF
Over/Under: OFF
After losing 8-of 10, including four straight in the from February 22 to March 3, the Mavericks were a four-game winning streak into Wednesday’s match up with Los Angles.
However, despite a double-double effort of 26 points and 1o rebounds by Dirk, the Mavs (27-21) streak was halted on a 109-93 loss.
After the rough first half, Dallas made outscored the Lakes 28-23 in the third but never got closer.
With the Mav’s Shawn Marion out of the lineup with a knee injury, Dallas couldn’t slow the NBA’s leading scorer Kobe Bryant who uncorked for 30 points while making 11 of 18 shots after averaging 14.5 points in the first two meetings with Dallas.
Sixth man Jason Terry had 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The Lakers shot an eye-popping 56.8 percent in the first half, and enjoyed a 46-29 rebounding edge in for the game.
Something Dallas will have to improve upon if they want to get a win in San Antonio, who dominated Minnesota its last time out, which ranks third in the NBA in rebounding, 56-41 on the boards.
Tim Duncan collected 21 points and 15 rebounds as the host Spurs which despite losing Tony Parker early, cruised to a 116-100 win.
Parker left the game early in the second quarter with tightness in his left hamstring and did not return.
Gary Neal took over Parker’s spot however, and led a solid effort for San Antonio’s bench, along with Stephen Jackson , going off for 59 points as the Spurs remain comfortably in second place in the West.
Free Pick: San Antonio
The Spurs hammered the Mavs 93-71 on Jan. 5 in San Antonio, but the Mavs’ returned the favor edging San Antonio 101-100 in overtime on Jan. 29 in Dallas.
However, with both teams coming of previous night games, I expect the difference in this one goes to the Spurs bench, which, if they have another night like last night, will wear down Dallas down the stretch.
