Wade-less Heat visit scorching Mavericks

Basketball Betting Lines

02/22/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The red-hot Dallas Mavericks and defending world champion Miami Heat meet for the second and final time in the regular season, as they battle tonight at American Airlines Center.

Miami concludes a brief two-game road trip. On Wednesday, Tracy McGrady scored 32 points and dished out eight assists, putting a damper on Pat Riley's return to the sidelines, as the Houston Rockets topped the Heat, 112-102, at the Toyota Center.

Dwyane Wade scored a team-high 27 points and nine assists, but left the game early in the fourth quarter with a dislocated left shoulder. He was injured while trying to strip Shane Battier of the ball and needed to be taken to a local hospital.

Wade will not play tonight. The All-Star guard leads the Heat in scoring (27.9 ppg) and assists 7.9 (apg) in 46 games this season.

Shaquille O'Neal had 20 points and 16 rebounds in the loss to the Rockets for Miami, which had a two-game winning streak halted and lost for only the second time in nine games.

Riley stepped aside from his duties on January 3rd because of health related issues. He was suffering from knee and hip conditions, both of which required surgery. Assistant Ron Rothstein had been running the Heat.

The Heat are just 11-17 on the road this season. Miami returns home to host LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Dallas, which plays its first game since the All-Star break, enters tonight's contest on a nine-game winning streak. On February 15th, All-Star Dirk Nowitzki scored 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Mavericks came back to topple the Houston Rockets, 80-77, at the Toyota Center

Veteran Jerry Stackhouse contributed 17 points off the bench in the win over Houston for the Mavericks, who have won 30 of their last 32 games overall. Howard added 15 points and 11 rebounds for Dallas.

Nowitzki leads the Mavericks in scoring (25.3 ppg) and rebounds (9.4 rpg), while versatile guard Jason Terry has handed out a team-best 5.4 assists per game.

The Mavericks, who open a three-game homestand, are an impressive 24-3 at home this season. Dallas is scheduled to host the Denver Nuggets on Saturday and the Atlanta Hawks on Monday.

This is a rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals. Miami defeated the Mavericks in six games to earn its first-ever world championship.

On January 21st, Josh Howard had 25 points and nine rebounds to lead the Mavericks to a 99-93 victory over the Heat at AmericanAirlines Arena.

The Mavericks have won five in a row in the series. Miami has lost four straight and five of its last six at Dallas.

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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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