Friday, March 7, 8:30 PM on CSNW, FSSW

American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas

The Portland Trail Blazers visited the Dallas Mavericks on Jan. 18 of this year and headed back home a winner by a score of 127-111. LaMarcus Aldridge had a great game with 30 points, 12 rebounds, two assists, three steals and a block. He proved to be too much for the Mavericks and led the Trail Blazers to their fifth consecutive win at the time.

With about 10 minutes to play in this matchup, the lead had gotten up to 38 points. Dallas then made a furious comeback against Portland's bench and went on a 25-2 run that brought them back to within 15 points with just under five minutes to go. Aldridge and the starters came back into the game and put an end to the Dallas run.

For the game, Portland shot an outstanding 51 percent from the field and hit 26-28 free throws. Until the fourth quarter, the Trail Blazer's defense held the Mavericks to 39 percent from the field.

Over the last 10 head-to-head matchups between Portland and Dallas, the Mavericks have covered five times and pushed once. However, the Mavericks have won against the spread in five of the last six matchups between these two teams.

Dallas is currently hovering around .500 ATS over the last month with the majority of their wins ATS coming away from home.

Portland has been slightly better ATS but haven't covered as well over the last week. One thing to note is the the Trail Blazers have played well ATS when playing away from home over the last month.

Both teams will be looking to increase their playoff stock when they face off in Dallas on Friday.

Read more articles by Alan Matthews