NBA Free Premium Play 01/23: Phoenix Suns @ Dallas Mavericks

Phoenix   at Dallas

NBA - 715 Phoenix Suns @ 716 Dallas Mavericks Projected line: Dallas by 2 points Dallas without Dirk struggled on offense at New Orleans. They did quite well at the rim with 18-22 FG, but completely failed on the outside with 6-15 FG from 16-23 feet and 4-26 3pts! The Mavs backcourt is currently struggling badly, if we exclude West. Both Kidd and Terry have been terrible from the outside, with the only player at a good level right now being Marion. Odom seems to be lost on the court, even though he showed a good effort: he may have had 6-14 FG 16pts, but note that he is playing very far from the basket, with just 4reb and shooting 1-5 3pts! Dallas has been winning their games via their defense, but without Dirk, their problems might be big, as it happened last season! They were able to beat the Hornets, because they did horrible on the outside shooting, with 5-20 FG from 16-23 feet and 2-19 3pts, but they won't be this lucky in the future! Phoenix is 2-0 on their last two games played on low scoring games, with the lineup change of the Suns working very well! Price is one of those pesky defenders that you hate to play against. He’ll pester you all around the floor and try and force some steals, which frees Nash from having to make a big defensive effort! Morris is much more active than Frye, who basically only shoots 3pts! Phoenix with this lineup is much more physical team and at the same time, they gained scoring punch coming from the bench! Finally, Gortat has been averaging 17.6 points over his last seven games, and the Suns will need to use his match-up advantage over Brendan Haywood early and often to help get their team going on offense. It will be interesting to see the improved defense of the Suns against Dallas without Dirk. I believe Phoenix has the right conditions to make this game a ballgame. These two teams have already faced each other this season, with an easy win for Dallas, in a moment of the season where Phoenix was dealing with physical problems, even more serious than the physical problems of the Mavs early on the season! Dirk had 20pts 6reb 7ast on that game and basketballvalue shows the importance of Dirk in the Mavs offense: 104.04 off rates with Dirk, 93.29 off rates without Dirk! I believe Phoenix has every condition to make this game a ball game and therefore, I'll take the Suns tonight. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 715 Phoenix Suns (+5) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker