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Heat hope to stay hot in Big D

Basketball Betting Lines

02/20/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat shoot for their sixth straight win when they close out a five-game road trip tonight against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center.

Miami made it five wins in a row and improved to 4-0 on the trek with Friday's 100-87 victory in double overtime at Memphis. Heat star Dwyane Wade missed the game with a calf injury, but Michael Beasley scored a career-high 30 points in his absence for Miami, which evened its road mark at 15-15.

Mario Chalmers and Jermaine O'Neal each had 18 points, while Udonis Haslem and Carlos Arroyo both finished with 10 in a winning cause.

"I think we defended well in the first half," Haslem said. "The second half we had a little slippage but we got back to it. I think we just really really wanted this one."

Wade is expected to miss tonight's game and is averaging 26.1 points per game this season. Guard Rafer Alston also missed last night's win over the Grizzlies with a bruised hand and is questionable Saturday for the Heat, who are tied with Chicago for the sixth spot in the East standings.

The Southwest Division-leading Mavericks will commence a three-game homestand tonight versus the Heat, Pacers and Lakers, and are 16-9 in Big D this season. They are coming off a 95-85 victory at Orlando, as Jason Kidd scored eight of his 10 points in the fourth quarter and also recorded eight assists and eight rebounds for the Mavs, who have won two straight and got 23 points out of Dirk Nowitzki.

Dallas newcomers Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood had 16 and 15 points, respectively, in a winning cause. Jason Terry netted 16 off the bench.

"We've been a bit of a streaky team. We have the ability to go on hot streaks as well," Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle said. "Look, when we get stops and get the ball into Jason Kidd's hands in transition, great things happen for us."

Even though Miami beat Dallas in the 2006 NBA Finals, the Mavericks have won 11 in a row in this series and seven straight as the host.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.