posted April 10, 2007 at 15:36 EST in NBA Betting Trends

No, the sky is not falling over the American Airlines Center.

It’s understandable if Dallas Mavericks supporters aren’t in a relaxed mood these days. The Mavs may be 5½ games ahead of the rest of the NBA at 63-13 straight up (37-35-4 against the spread), but their 2-2 record in April was all it took for the usual suspects to slap the word “stumble” on Dallas.

It’s ludicrous to suggest the Mavs are falling apart as the postseason draws near. But where there’s smoke, there’s fire. The level of play in Dallas has dropped noticeably; the Mavs have gone six consecutive games without cashing in, and they’re 4-11 ATS over the past month, despite losing just four of those contests.

Right now, crushing the opposition isn’t the main concern in Big D. That would be the health of Josh Howard. The talented swingman has a sprained ankle that kept him out of Saturday’s 86-74 victory over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers – Dallas was a fat 14.5-point chalk in that affair. Howard is expected to play very limited minutes, if at all, during Monday’s home date with the Los Angeles Clippers.

 

The underrated Howard is the current No. 2 man on the Mavs, behind Dirk Nowitzki, contributing 19.2 points and seven rebounds a night with a plus-minus Roland Rating of plus-7.6 (Nowitzki leads the way at plus-16.2).

Although Howard’s position on the floor is one of the more replaceable in the NBA, the Mavs are also keeping Jerry Stackhouse and his myriad nagging injuries on the bench as much as possible. That leaves Devean George (seven points, 4.9 boards per game in 11 starts with Dallas) to pick up the slack.

The Mavs’ win over Portland illustrated what bettors might be in for down the stretch. With a 19-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, Dallas made very good use of its bench – nine different players ended up with at least 20 minutes of action.

The Blazers, meanwhile, earned the matador cover by outscoring the Mavs 21-14 in the final frame. That hardly seems like cause for concern. Still, Dallas needed one more victory at the time of publication to secure the best record in the NBA and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. There will be no relaxing in the peanut gallery until that win is in the books.

Dallas hits the road Wednesday to face the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are playing out the string at 32-44 SU and 32-42-2 ATS. Tip off is at 8:00 p.m. Eastern with local television coverage in both markets.

You’ll find the latest NBA odds and lines in the best online sportsbook, BetUS.com. Betting on NBA player and game props makes every aspect of the game exciting. Join BetUS.com today to bet on the NBA and make online sports betting work for you!