NBA Pick

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Dallas continues to battle to stay in the playoff race in the Western Conference with a four-game winning streak that has it three games in back of the Lakers for the eighth and final spot. The impressive part of this current run is that the last three wins came on the road where the Mavericks are just 13-21 straight-up this season. They are 30-33 SU overall but a profitable 37-26 against the spread. They have covered in five of their last seven games and the total has gone OVER in three of the last five.

Even more impressive has been the fact that Dallas’s leading rebounder Shawn Merion has missed the last three games with an injured calf. He remains questionable for Thursday night’s matchup. Overall, the Mavericks are ranked seventh in the NBA in scoring with 101.4 points a game while shooting 45.7 percent from the field. A big boost to the offense has been Vince Carter coming off the bench to average 13.3 points a game.

The Spurs remain in the top spot in the West at 49-16 SU (36-27-2 ATS) but they have to be scratching their heads over Tuesday night’s improbable 107-83 loss to Minnesota as nine-point road favorites. This shocker could have been a result of San Antonio deciding to take a night off after its huge 105-93 victory over Oklahoma City as a 2.5-point favorite at home on Monday.

Do not expect this team to lay down two games in-a-row especially against a Southwest Division and state rival. However, the actual task of beating Dallas will be made tougher considering that the Spurs leading scorer Tony Parker remains out of the lineup with an injured ankle and Tim Duncan is listed as questionable with an injured knee.

Prediction

The actual closing line for this game will hinge on Duncan’s playing status, but the free NBA pick in this contest is still with the Spurs. This team does not lose two games in a row too often and given the fact that they are playing at home and still need to pile up the wins to secure that No.1 seed for the playoffs, look for San Antonio to win and cover on Thursday night.

San Antonio 104 Dallas 96