Bet on Basketball

In perhaps the biggest rivalry in the league today, the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks meet tonight to try to continue their respective winning streaks. The first match up between these teams ended happily for the Spurs, but can do this again. The Mavericks, after a very poor 0-4 start to the season, came back winning 7 straight by going back to their successful defensive plays of last year. Dirk Nowitzki and his teammates would like to have a win over their biggest rival, and their defensive capability is likely to determine the result of the game. This is expected to be a close game.  The pick is Dallas + 4.5 for 4 units.

The Memphis Grizzlies are hosting the Washington Wizards tonight after a loss to Cleveland three days ago. Memphis like to play slow tempo games and they will determine the game flow at home against a team which has the ability to score but limited in defense.  Arenas’ performance in the last games left alone due to lots of misses from the rest of the team, and they are not likely to reach 95 points against a good defensive team. The pick for this match is Under 192 for 5 units.

The league frontrunners Utah Jazz are hosting the Los Angeles Lakers, who beat the Bulls and Clippers by sticking to the strict gameplay of Phil Jackson, in which much of the work is handled by Kobe Bryant and Odom’s shooting guard performances. The main difference in the home team this season is that not only is their defense first class, but they are also able to score lots of points.  However, the Jazz defense may be spoiled by Andrew Bynum, the sophomore pivot of the Lakers, along with Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur in the paint. This game is going to be a clash of two rising teams, so a close game is expected. Lakers +5.5 is the pick for 4 units.