I like the clippers/dallas under. The clips play to the opponents pace. They hold there own and do not have the ability to set the pace and outscore their opponents by big margins... however they are playing very well up until the fourth quarter as they do not have a go to guy and opposing defenses clamp down to pull away. This collapse in the fourth will be good for dallas -4 bet also..
Dallas seemed to disrupt the lakers offense alot last night.. alot of attempted steals and pokes making the lakers set the offense very late in the shot clock. The one negative was the talk from the coach about trying to speed up the pace. I know he want this up-tempo but his team is old.
However this could be a result of the lakers struggles against teams with fast backcourts.
Lakers' inflated sense of self came back to haunt them against Dallas last night - coasting and figuring that they'd be able to turn it on at the end to get a victory, they were stymied and looked to be agitated, almost as if they were trying to channel the anger as a means of motivation - which never did arrive for them. Dallas executed its game plan well and relied on a faster unit by foregoing Dampier for a lot of the game and relying on the shorter, but hustling Kris Humphries.
Clippers usually in a false state of being able to compete in the games they've been in until the bubble bursts in the 4th quarter - Davis still forcing the issue - whereas the focal point of the offense should be Gordon w/ Kaman, complemented by Thornton and Butler. Davis effectively kills the offense of the team he's ON.
Question remains if Mavericks come out w/ a letdown performance after winning versus the Lake Show. Enough veteran presence to mitigate against that, but it's a crapshoot pinpointing what passes for brains and focus among NBA players.
oints*0.25<=tp:free throws made and 20020103<=date
