The 36-31 Boston Celtics will travel to play the 32-36 Dallas Mavericks in an NBA pro basketball game on Friday night. Tip off time from Dallas is scheduled for 8:30PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by the NBA League Pass Channel.
The NBA odds from this pro basketball game has the home team Dallas Mavericks favored by -4 ½ points with a total of 196 points. There has been no line movement in this game since the odds were released a few hours ago.
Boston and Dallas met back on December 12th with the Celtics posting the 117-115 home overtime victory against the Mavericks as a -6 point betting favorite. The game went over 197 ½ points.
The Celtics have a road mark of 12-21 on the year. They lose their second straight after an 87-86 road defeat on Wednesday to the New Orleans Hornets as a -4 ½ point betting favorite. The game landed under 187 points. Boston was held to just 31 second half points. They shoot 45.8% from the field and made 4 of 14 from three point land. The Celtics allowed the Hornets 43.7% shooting and forced 20 New Orleans turnovers. Boston loses the game on the glass as they get pounded by a 45-28 margin. Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 28 points and five assists on 9 of 17 from the floor. The Celtics lack of size down low to support Kevin Garnett has hurt this team all season. Boston ranks 29th and second to last in the NBA in rebounding the basketball this season.
The Mavs are 18-14 straight up on their home court. They suffer a bad 113-96 home defeat on Wednesday to the Brooklyn Nets as a -3 ½ point betting favorite. The game finished over 196 points. After taking a 32-22 lead after one period the Mavericks got outscored by 27 points in the final three periods. The Mavs wasted a 50% shooting night and made 7 of 19 from the three point line. They give up 50.6% shooting to the Nets and allowed Brooklyn to pull down 11 more rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 16 points and 6 rebounds on 8 of 10 makes from the field. After showing improvement on defense the Mavericks have reverted back to their old poor form. They have given up and average of 111 points per game over their past three games. Dallas is 27th and fourth to last in the NBA in points allowed. That is why the team sits in the 10th seed in the Western Conference and 3 ½ games behind the eighth seeded LA Lakers with only 14 games remaining.
