Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
The LA Lakers will face the Dallas Mavericks in their game 4 of their best of 7 Western conference semifinal series on Sunday afternoon.
They will tip off game 4 from Dallas as 3:30PM Eastern Time and its ABC providing the live national television coverage of this NBA pro basketball playoff game.
The betting odds opened up with the home club Dallas Mavericks favored by –2 1/2 points with an over under of 188 points.
Money early has not moved off the opening line as the Dallas Mavericks is now lined as a -2 ½ point favorite.
The over under has too not moved off the opener of 188 points.
Those betting the favored Dallas Mavericks on the money line will lay –135 odds with the underdog LA Lakers paying +125 odds to pull off the upset game 4 victory to extend the series to a game 5 without the aid of getting the points.
The Dallas Mavericks have taken a commanding 3-0 series lead over the LA Lakers off their 98-92 victory on Friday night as a +2 point home underdog. The game landed over the total of 187 points.
Like in game 1 it was another huge fourth quarter rally from the Mavericks in the victory as the outscored the old and tired LA Lakers by a 32-20 margin.
Dallas had the look of a team ready to fold at home in game three but had plenty in reserve late in the game as they overcame a 8 point fourth quarter deficit to earn the win.
The Lakers also had poor possessions with the lead in the fourth quarter that allowed the Mavericks to come back.
LA just looked empty physically and emotionally as they fell in game 3. Even Phil Jackson’s out of character tirades on the sidelines could not spark this defeated team.
The Mavericks shot 46.3% in the win and connected on 12 of 29 from the three point line. The team got to the free throw line 27 times and made 23 shots.
If you get behind Dallas you have problems late in games because the Mavericks do not miss free throws.
It was Dirk Nowitzki leading the way for Dallas with 32 points and nine rebounds on 12 of 19 shooting from the floor.
The bench sparked Dallas with 42 points.
The unit was led by Jason Terry who had 23 points on 7 of 10 shooting and he made 7 of 8 from the free throw line.
Peja Stojakovic also contributed as the veteran had 15 points on 5 of 11 from the floor and 3 of 7 from beyond the arc.
Point guard Jason Kidd dished out 9 assists in the win.
The Lakers wasted a 47.6% shooting performance in the loss. LA once again could not drain three’s as the club hit on just 3 of 10 in defeat.
The club got to the line just 12 times and made 10 shots.
Center Andrew Bynum led the team with 21 points and 10 boards on 9 of 16 shooting.
Lamar Odom in a starting role for a suspended Ron Artest had 18 points and six boards on 8 of 16 shooting.
Kobe Bryant played just 38 minutes in a must win game three and the veteran had 17 points and 6 assists on 8 of 16 from the floor.
It was another pitiful performance for Pau Gasol with just 11 points and 7 boards on 5 of 13 shooting.
He is getting crushed on the defensive end of the court by Dirk Nowitzki and it has gotten in his head.
The Lakers defensive rotation suffered without Ron Artest on the court.
The Lakers had trouble defending the three and looked out of sync defensively without Artest on the court.
The Lakers bench had just 15 points in game three.
The LA Lakers optimists will be quick to point out that out of the 98 teams down 0-3 in an NBA playoff series this Lakers club is the best of those 98 and would stand the best chance of overcoming these tremendous odds.
They would also point out the Dallas choked away an NBA World Title to the Miami Heat in the 2006 Finals.
Also they would mention that the Orlando Magic got close as they were down 0-3 to the Boston Celtics in last year’s Eastern conference finals and pushed Boston to 6 games.
Trend: Dallas Mavericks is 13-0 ATS in their past 13 games.
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