Tonight at 10 pm SACRAMENTO will host the DALLAS MAVERICKS on the hardwood of the Arco Arena. DALLAS comes in on 2 days rest after winning at home vs PHOENIX 103-90. They lost 3 away games in a row before that to HOUSTON 101-98, SAN ANTONIO 113-100 and MINNESOTA 121-97. SACRAMENTO hits the boards on 1 day rest after a home win vs GOLDEN STATE 96-92 in a game that the WARRIORS could have won, if not for missing 7 straight buckets down the final stretch. In that game Chris Webber did not play well at all, as he hasn't in their last few contests of late.
SACRAMENTO hosted DALLAS on CHRISTMAS DAY and held a 60-44 advantage at the half. DALLAS opened the second half with a 19-4 burst closing to within 1 at 64-63. In that game SACRAMENTO played without PEJA STOJAKOVIC(suspended) and CHRIS WEBBER(injured) which created mismatches that DIRK NOWITSKI did not hesitate to take advantage of while scoring 31 and getting to the foul line to make 10 in a row in the fourth quarter. DALLAS grabbed the lead 88-86 at the 7:21 mark of the fourth quarter and made it a 106-103 lead on an ANTOINE WALKER 3 pointer from the top of the key with only 1:04 to go. This was the very first CHRISTMAS game held at the Arco Arena, and for DALLAS it was the first CHRISTMAS game played ever.
The next meeting was a month later on Jan. 25 in a game that saw 13 lead changes, 90 points in the paint and 44 fast breakers.
Ultimately, DALLAS wore down a tired SACRAMENTO team that was playing its 3rd game of a 6 game road trip.Of the SACRAMENTO team, DIRK NOWITSKI said he always has fun playing them because the matchups are right, and this guy does enjoy every minute of every game he plays. He's just like a big kid, but a very nice person down to the bone, with a wonderful attitude. SACRAMENTO fought back from a 10 point deficit to tie the game at 97 on a BIBBY 3 pointer. but the MAVS got the next basket on a FINLEY jumper and never trailed after that. SACRAMENTO's tough loss at MEMPHIS 109-95, and DALLAS's road win vs CHICAGO 106-93, as previous games played by each team, I don't think played at all into the equation.
This is a tough game to call. I do think that the three road losses suffered by DALLAS before the PHOENIX game was a wake up call for the MAVS. They know, if nothing else that they are vulnerable on the road. They play SACRAMENTO tonight, then in PHOENIX and finish the 3 game road trip in 4 days at the CLIPPERS. After the last game NOWITSKI said he thought they would fare quite well in those contests, and that they needed to win to prove to themselves that they can "on the road".
CHIS WEBBER is not playing well of late, but that doesn't mean he won't come out tonight like a gang buster. But I tend to think not. Why shouldn't DALLAS cover the 7 poiint spread.... after all, NOWITSKI is having a lot of fun.