10* Dallas (8:35 ET): The Mavericks ended their longest losing streak in two seasons (three games) Wednesday night, picking up a nice 124-112 win in Indiana. Believe it or not, that was the first game all season that the Mavs shot better than 50% from the field (52.4%). That’s shocking when you consider this team led the league in offensive efficiency last season. Despite the 3-game losing skid I mentioned at the top, the Mavs are still 6-2 ATS L8 games and I expect them to begin moving up the Western Conference standings in no time. They are 4-0 ATS off their previous four straight up victories.

San Antonio is coming off its worst loss of the season, something I can’t say I’m sorry about. Their 121-99 loss to the Warriors Wednesday night was my 10* Game of the Week (on Golden State -1) and saw the Spurs never lead in the entire contest after falling behind by double digits in the first quarter. They trailed by as many as 25 at one point as it was a dreadful shooting night, particularly from three where they finished an unsightly 4 of 33. Will their shooting improve in this game? Yes, probably. But I still don’t think that will be enough.

Since a four-game losing streak that surrounded the New Year, the Spurs have NOT dropped B2B games, going 6-3 SU overall. But I feel that distinction ends here tonight against what I view as a far superior team. I had the Mavs finishing in the top four in the West prior to the start of the season and right now they are 9th, so it’s time to get going. As I said in Wednesday’s analysis, the Spurs had been fairly fortunate recently, beating Portland and Houston when both were severely short-handed. 10* Dallas