A revenge spot for Dallas has the oddsmaker opening this game way too high. The Mavericks sat out Dirk Nowitzki, Tyson Chandler and Rajon Rondo when they met the Nuggets at Pepsi Center two nights ago. The Nuggets won, 114-107.




Those three stars are all slated to be in Dallas' lineup tonight. But it's not a given the Mavericks are going to easily defeat the Nuggets, who are playing their finest ball of the season with five straight victories. The Nuggets are averaging 109.8 points per game on 51.5 percent shooting from the floor during their winning streak.




Denver has defeated Dallas in six of the last eight meetings. The Nuggets outrebounded the Mavericks by 12 this past Wednesday. Chandler being back makes a difference. He's the third-leading rebounder in the league. But the Nuggets still will be active on the boards thanks to Kenneth Faried, who had 22 points and 14 rebounds versus Dallas two nights ago. Only 11 players average more rebounds per game than Faried.




The Nuggets were short-handed at point guard when they beat Dallas. That won't be the case tonight as they have former Maverick Jameer Nelson to back up Ty Lawson, who played huge on Wednesday with 29 points and 12 assists. Nelson knows the Mavericks well having started the first 23 games for them this season. His knowledge should come in handy.




Dallas has covered just one of its last 12 games versus Western Conference opponents. The Mavericks also have a much better spread record on the road than at home where they have failed to cover nine of the past 12 times.