Dallas at Los Angeles

It has not been the start the Dallas Mavericks had hoped for, and sometimes when a team loses games early, the only answer is to turn up the defense. It is hard to control the ball going through the hoop, but it is easy to make a defensive commitment, and we would expect one here tonight. The Clippers have won 3 in a row, and are certainly feeling good about themselves. There are a lot more signals to this game going under than just an anticipated defensive effort by the Mavs tonight. The Clippers have built a solid homecourt advantage, and it has been done by playing defense. They have gone under in 24 of last 35 games, playing vs a team with a losing record, and at the same time, when they have been a favorite in their own building, have logged an amazing 31 of 46 unders or almost 70%! This series when played in LA has not been rattling the scoreboard either. The last 3 years (6 meetings), have all gone under the total. The average points scored in these 6 games has been an amazing 18 points a game under the posted total! The public seems to be favoring the over in this one at about 70%, yet the line has dropped from 192 to 190. It appears that some bigger money has cast its vote, and so have we!