saturday nite fever part 2..... the preview

I'm laying the points with Dallas over Portland.  I know (as does everyone else) that the Mavericks haven't covered as home favorites in forever but I feel like they've come to the point where they're sick of all the close calls.  Their last two home games were one-point wins over inferior competition and the two home games prior to that were bad losses to the Lakers and Jazz.  The tipping point, though, may have been Thursday night's fourth quarter giveaway in Phoenix, a loss that I think had to leave the Mavericks angry at the fact that they allowed a poor defensive team to bottle them up when it mattered most.

This is also a revenge game for Dallas.  Their ugly 85-81 home loss to the Blazers back on December 22nd is one they're likely still stewing over.  That night, Nowitzki and little J.J. Barea were the only ones who played well while EVERYONE ELSE completely SUCKED.  The Mavs had a huge 3rd quarter to overcome an 11-point halftime deficit but then faded badly in the final quarter.  Jason Terry was the main culprit as he clanked every he shot he took.

The Blazers have been a resilient group for some time now, but it looks like they're finally out of gas, losing their last three games and tonight playing without rest followng a strong effort last night in Houston.

I heard someone earlier today (somewhere in this forum) describe this pointspread as being "enormous", and that's what got me thinking about this play (specifically, it got me thinking about why the evil oddsmakers saw fit to make the line so "enormous").