NBA Playoffs Series Preview – #7 San Antonio Spurs vs. #2 Dallas Mavericks

Series Starts: 4/18/2010 8:00 pm EST
Series Format: 2-2-1-1-1

The San Antonio Spurs used to be a NBA basketball betting favorite taking more money to win the NBA Finals than any other team almost each and every year. That was when the Spurs continually fought for the top record in the NBA.

Not so anymore. The Spurs have changed to the point that they are no better than the 7th best team in the Western Conference Playoffs. Still, they’re a pretty good team although the chances of them beating the Dallas Mavericks, who have been good all season and particularly down the stretch, in a 7 game series might be tough..

Let’s take a look at the series.

NBA Playoffs Series Preview:
#7 San Antonio Spurs (50-32) vs. #2 Dallas Mavericks (55-27)

NBA Basketball Spread

San Antonio Spurs +145
Dallas Mavericks -175

Offense: San Antonio has a decent offense. Their top scorer is still Tim Duncan who averages 18 points per game. Duncan provides the most points for the Spurs who score about 101 points per game as a team. The Spurs are a very good shooting team as evidenced by their 47% field goal percentage.

The Dallas Mavericks score 102 points per game as well. Their percentage is almost the same as the Spurs and, like the Spurs, most of their points come from one person, Dirk Nowitzki, who puts up 25 per game.

The offenses for these two teams are very similar. They both have very good point-guards, Tony Parker for the Spurs and future hall-of-famer Jason Kidd for the Mavericks, and can shoot the three or pound it inside. Both teams also have good running games and great half-court sets.

Edge: Even

Defense: Dallas allows 99 points per game. San Antonio allows 96.3 points per game. The Mavericks’ D might not be as solid as San Antonio’s but it’s still a pretty good defense. There isn’t a better defensive guard in the NBA than Kidd.

San Antonio, however, preaches defense. Duncan is as good as it gets in the middle. He blocks 1.5 shots per game. Manu Ginobili averages 1.4 steals and the Spurs as a team work on the defense end as hard as any team in the league.

Edge: Spurs

Intangibles: Both teams have excellent benches although Jason Terry is the best 6th man in the NBA.

Dallas also comes into this playoff series dying to make a splash. The Spurs have been here before, but for Dallas, this might be their last chance at a championship. It could work either way against them, they might try to hard, but my feeling is that Dallas will want it more and therefore rates the edge.

Edge: Mavericks

Prediction: Dallas Mavericks in 7

The San Antonio Spurs could easily win this series because they are, if anything, as talented as Dallas on offense and possibly better than Dallas on defense, but the Mavericks have that look about them.

Dallas is determined to at least get to the conference finals, I’m not saying that they will, I’m just saying that they’re determined to, and will hold nothing back in order to win this 1st round playoff series.

Dallas is the pick at the basketball line of -175 in the sportsbook.