A pair of inter-conference battles on Thursday night in the NBA. The Mavericks look to extend their red-hot 21-1 SU run when they visit Chicago’s strong home court where the Bulls stand 18-6 SU this season, while the Nets look to continue their 11-2 ATS run when they visit a Clippers squad on a current 3-games winning streak.

Below is a look at both national TV matchups on TNT tonight.

DALLAS (-4½, 191) at CHICAGO (TNT)

The Mavericks and Suns are clearly the two best teams in the league. Phoenix became the first team in NBA history to notch two 15-game win streaks before the All-Star break with their win at New York last night. Dallas is also red-hot and the Mavericks have gone 21-1 SU over their past twenty-two games and stand 34-4 SU since their 0-4 SU start in early November.

The Mavericks have gone 16-5 SU on the road this season, but they stand just 11-8 ATS as they often face inflated pointspreads and have won their twenty-one road games by an average margin of just +2.1 points per game.

Chicago enters tonight’s game on a 5-7 SU run and they are just 3-6 ATS during their past nine games. The Bulls have been a much stronger team at home this season where they stand 18-6 SU (15-9 ATS) compared to just 6-13 SU (5-14 ATS) on the road.

Dallas has dominated this series, going 16-1 SU versus Chicago in the past seventeen meetings, including 12-5 ATS in those games. The oddsmakers have begun to adjust the line as the Mavericks are just 2-3 ATS in the past five meetings, despite going 4-1 SU.

The Mavericks won the earlier meeting this season 111-99 as a surprisingly cheap 4-point home favorite. Dallas was led by Dirk Nowitzki who tallied 31 points and 10 rebounds, while the Bulls leading scorer was Kirk Hinrich (25 points) who was closely followed by Loul Deng (24 points, 10 rebounds).

NEW JERSEY at L.A. CLIPPERS (-6½, 191) (TNT)

The Nets might not have much energy left tonight after back-to-back heartbreaking losses this week. New Jersey blew a 20-point lead in their 88-87 loss at Sacramento on Monday and then blew an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter last night at Golden State in a 110-109 setback.

The Nets must now travel without rest and play their third road game in four nights against a Clipper squad in solid current form. Los Angeles has won three straight home games and they have scored at least 112+ points in each victory. The offense has been incredibly strong during the past two weeks as the Clippers have shot at least 46% or better from the field in five of their past six games.

New Jersey remains without two starters as center Nenad Krstic is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, while forward Richard Jefferson is out indefinitely with an ankle injury. Krstic is second on the team in scoring (16.4 ppg) and rebounding (6.8 rpg), while Jefferson is third on the squad in scoring (16.1 ppg) and assists (2.9 apg).

The Nets have surprisingly played well with their short-handed lineup and stand 2-0 ATS the past two games without Jefferson and 11-2 ATS the past thirteen games without Krstic.

This is the first meeting of the season between these two clubs. The home team won each meeting by double-digits last season and overall the home team is 8-1 SU/ATS in the past nine meetings.

Steve Merril
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