Dallas Mavericks at San Antonio Spurs
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
The San Antonio Spurs will look to increase their Southwest Division lead with a win at home over the Dallas Mavericks. San Antonio comes in off a 91-84 win at Milwaukee on Wednesday, and have now won five straight and are a ridiculous 33-6 on the season. The Mavericks were right on pace with the Spurs before losing All-Star Dirk Nowitzki to a knee injury. Dallas lost 102-89 at Indiana, and are just 2-6 without Nowitzki. Oddsmakers aren’t giving Dallas much of a chance in this one, as our spreads have the Spurs favored by 10-points over the Mavericks at home.
If there was any question to how important Nowitzki is to the Mavericks, I think that is being answered right now. The next guy who you would figure to step up for the Mavericks is Caron Butler, but he went down just two games after Nowitzki and its unclear if he will be able return at all this season. Nowitzki appears to be getting close to returning, but its likely a week or so away.
Jason Terry, DeShawn Stevenson, and Shawn Marion are each averaging right around 17-18 points over the last five, but no one else is really adding much. For Dallas to beat the Spurs, they are going to need a big game out of all three of these guys, plus a solid game from veteran point guard Jason Kidd.
The Mavericks beat the Spurs 103-94 at San Antonio with both Nowitzki and Butler back on Nov. 26, but just recently lost at home without Nowitzki 99-93. Dallas figures to be in even more trouble this time around without Butler.
With San Antonio you just don’t know who is going to have a big game and help lead this team to a victory, as it seems like a different guy steps up just about every night. The one consistent threat for the Spurs offense has been Manu Ginobili, who had a game-high 23 points against the Bucks.
Ginobili is averaging 22.4 points, seven rebounds, and four assists in his last five games, and when the Spurs need someone to take over late, the ball usually ends up in Ginobili’s hands.
Matt Bonner came off the bench to score 17 points in the win over the Bucks, and Tim Duncan had 16 points and eight rebounds. San Antonio won despite Richard Jefferson failing to score a single point, and Tony Parker only score eight. Parker is averaging just 10 points over his last four games, and while the Spurs are winning, they would like to get him going.
I just think the Mavericks are too short-handed to keep it close against the Spurs in this one. San Antonio knows that the Mavericks will be a threat once Nowitzki returns, so getting this win and increasing their lead in the division will definitely be their goal tonight.
Got something to say?
