Clippers finish road trip in Dallas

Basketball Betting Lines

02/13/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers hope to tie a bow on a successful road trip by securing their first win in over five years in North Texas when they take on the reigning NBA champion Mavericks.

The Clips have lost nine straight in Big D, last tasting victory there on April 19, 2006.

But this is a much different Clippers team, one that improved to an impressive 4-1 on their current Grammy Road Trip trip in Charlotte on Saturday. Blake Griffin scored 21 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in that one as Los Angeles dominated the hapless Bobcats, 111-86, at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Each of Griffin's fellow starters also scored in double figures, with Chris Paul netting 18 points and 14 assists, Caron Butler picking up 16 points, Randy Foye adding 12, and DeAndre Jordan finishing with 11 points and 12 boards.

"I thought we got some easy plays, especially with our defense, which was good," Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro said.

The Mavs, meanwhile, won their third straight on Saturday by opening up a three-game homestand with a 97-94 double overtime win over Portland. Delonte West scored six of his 10 points in the second extra frame to fuel the Mavericks in that one.

"The coaches have shown a lot of trust in me, putting me in in tense situations like that," said West.

Dirk Nowitzki scored a team-high 20 points for the Mavericks, who led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter before allowing Portland to claw its way back into the game. Jason Terry added 19 points off the bench as Dallas improved to 10-5 on its home floor.

"We're used to close ball games and being a veteran team doing what we have to do to get the win," Terry told the Mavericks' website. "You would have liked to have seen us kind of close things out [better], but it didn't happen."

The Clippers already snapped an overall 10-game skid against the Mavs with a 91-89 win in LA back on Jan. 18 when Chauncey Billups hit his first "Big Shot" for the Clips, draining a go-ahead three-pointer with one second left in regulation.

Billups, however, has since been lost for the season with a torn left Achilles.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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