Basketball betting on Saturday includes what could easily be a first round playoff preview as the Dallas Mavericks host the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Mavericks are poised to finish either second third or fourth in the Western Conference while Oklahoma City could finish anywhere from sixth to eighth. The Mavericks are favored in NBA betting odds but Dallas has been a terrible team at home vs. the point spread.
Basketball betting trends point to the Thunder in this game. Even though Oklahoma City has won just three of the last ten games against Dallas they are 7-2-1 against the NBA betting line. The Mavericks have won two of the three games against the Thunder this season but they only covered once. The teams split their two games at Oklahoma City. The Thunder won 99-86 while the Mavericks won 100-86. In the lone game at Dallas the Mavericks barely pulled out a 99-98 win but didn’t cover the five point spread.
Seven of the last ten in this series have gone under the basketball betting total. That makes some sense because the Thunder plays excellent defense. Oklahoma City is in the Top 10 in defense this season. That has translated well on the road and the Thunder has one of the better marks in the NBA this season on the road vs. the basketball betting line. The Thunder are led by Kevin Durant who is trying to win the NBA scoring title. He averages almost 30 points per game this season.
Dallas is trying to get the #2 seed in the Western Conference. They win a lot of games but they don’t cover the basketball betting point spread very often, especially at home. It is simply hard to take Dallas because they are so bad at home vs. the point spread. Logically it would seem that the Mavericks would be due to cover some games at home. Dallas has solid, but not spectacular statistics. They are just outside the top ten in scoring and in defense. They find ways to win games though. Dirk Nowitzki leads the team in scoring and that is not unusual at all. He usually leads the way on most nights. The Mavericks have other players who can provide scoring though including Caron Butler and super sub Jason Terry. Dallas has been going over the total more at home than they have on the road this season.