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| David Zalubowski/Associated Press |
Highlights Video :
Those bettors expecting a high-scoring Game 1 of this first-round playoff series between the third-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder and sixth-seeded Dallas Mavericks had to be disappointed, seeing one team show up at home and the other look like the players barely stepped on the court.
Following a 108-70 rout of the Mavs as 12-point favorites, the Thunder will now try to take a 2-0 series lead Monday as consensus 13.5-point chalk at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.
Oklahoma City scored the first nine points of the game, jumped out to a commanding 59-33 halftime lead and then continued to tighten the screws defensively after the intermission in holding Dallas to its lowest postseason point total in franchise history.
The Mavs shot only 29.8 percent from the floor and lost point guard J.J. Barea to a groin injury prior to the second half. Without Barea and fellow starting guard Deron Williams, who is doubtful with an abdominal injury, Dallas will likely struggle to run any kind of effective and efficient offense in Game 2.
Before the series opener that finished way under the closing number of 206 on the NBA betting lines, the total had gone over in seven of the previous nine head-to-head matchups. The Thunder won all four regular-season meetings straight up with a 2-2 mark against the spread, according to the Odds Shark NBA Database.
But at least the Mavs averaged 103 points in those games and scored more than that in the two they covered, each of which was decided by just three points. A close matchup seems like a long shot considering how poorly Dallas played offensively, which also corresponded to a lower total.
The Mavs' three-guard starting lineup of Barea, Williams and Wesley Matthews combined to score only 11 points on 5-of-25 shooting, going 1-of-10 from three-point range. Reserve guards Devin Harris, Raymond Felton and Justin Anderson did not do much better off the bench, totaling 17 points on 6-of-21 shooting.
While the Thunder can score with just about any team in the NBA, they may not need to again here. They averaged 112.5 points versus Dallas during the regular season and were on a better pace through the first three quarters of Game 1 before resting players and slowing things down in the fourth. Do not be surprised to see a repeat in Game 2.
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