Dallas Mavericks vs. Miami Heat Game 2 Preview NBA Point Spread: Heat -4.5 O/U 186 By: Barrett Kazmerzack of Coopers Pick CALL NOW 1-888-730-COOP The Mavs led Game 1 in the 3rd quarter and then the Heat and LeBron James and Dwyane Wade took over and hitting big shots down the stretch to win by 8 points. Dirk Nowtizki scored 27 points with 8 rebounds and was 12/12 from the free throw line, but he was only 7/18 from the field. That was the problem for the Mavs in Game 1, as they only shot 37.3% from the floor and even though the played good D holding the Heat under 40% from the field they have to shoot the rock better in Game 2. Nowitzki tore a tendon in the middle finger of his non-shooting hand and since he will wear a splint it may alter his shot and he will need the other Mavs to help him out more on offense. Get the best in NBA picks from Coopers Pick now. The team that wins Game 1 of the NBA finals goes onto to win the series 73% of the time and in an interesting fact the last team to win a Game 1 and go on to lose the series was the 2006 Mavs winning the first 2 games to the Heat and then losing the next 4. In Game 1 the Heat beat the Mavs 92-84 and Miami covered the spread with the posted total going Under. This season the Heat are 51-46-1 ATS and Dallas is 56-39-3 ATS. The Mavs have the big advantage in the series in their bench, but that did not show in Game 1 with the Miami reserves outscoring the Dallas reserves 27-17. Jose Juan Barea, Jason Terry, and Peja Stojakovic combined to score 14 points on horrid 4/21 shooting and that must change in Game 2. Entering Game 1 the Dallas bench had averaged 39.4 ppg and they have to give the team some offense in Game 2. The Mavs were out-rebounded in Game 1 by 10 boards and C Tyson Chandler must have a better Game 2. The Heat do not have much of an inside presence and Dallas did not use their big center with Chandler only going for 9 points and 4 rebounds in Game 1. Dallas did shoot the 3-pointer pretty well in Game 1, but they have to spread out the offense more and get some inside scoring. The Mavs only had one 2-point FG in the first 15:49 of the game.
Even though the Big 3 of James, Wade, and Chris Bosh scored a combined 65 points in Game 1 Dallas defended them pretty well, but it is simple for the Mavs, as they have to shoot the ball better and get better bench play or they will be going home down 2-0 in this series. Betting Trends Dallas is 7-1-1 ATS in their last 9 road games, e 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games following a S.U. loss, and has an Under record of 3-1-1 in Mavericks last 5 games following a S.U. loss. Miami is 6-0 ATS in their last 6 home games, 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games overall, and has an Over record of 6-1 in their last 7 home games.