A pair of important Game 5's hit the hardcourt on Tuesday night as both the Toronto Raptors and Dallas Mavericks need victories or their seasons are over.

The Mavericks take on the Golden State Warriors after falling into a shocking 3-1 series deficit. Golden State has surprised everyone by easily handling the powerful Mavericks in three of the four games already played in this series. The difference has been the play of Baron Davis. The Warriors' point guard scored 33 points to go along with eight rebounds in Game 4, and he's averaging 25.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in the series. The impact Davis has on the Warriors can be discerned by taking a look at his stats in Golden State's Game 2 loss. Davis only scored 13 points in that game - his lowest point total of the postseason. Unless the Mavericks can find a way to shut down Davis and get the game of their lives from their big guns, Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard, they'll end up as only the third No. 1 seed in NBA history to get knocked off by a No. 8 seed.

Toronto's first trip to the playoffs in five years may end up being a short one. The Raptors are on the brink of elimination trailing the New Jersey Nets 3-1. One plus for the Raptors is that they're heading back home for Game 5. Vince Carter burned up the Raptors in Games 3 and 4 in New Jersey, but his numbers in Toronto don't compare. In two games north of the border Carter scored a combined 35 points, compared to the 64 combined points he netted in two games back home in Jersey.

The main difference is that Carter doesn't have to face a barrage of boos whenever he touches the ball at home. But the young Raptors can't just rely on Carter choking in Toronto, they also need a big game from Chris Bosh. Toronto's leading scorer has only come through in the Raptors' Game 2 win, when he scored 25 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. In the Raptors' three losses Bosh is averaging only 15.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. If Bosh delivers numbers like that again on Tuesday night, the Raptors' playoff trip will end with a whimper.

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The Denver Nuggets gave away Game #3 to the San Antonio Spurs and if they don't start getting better play out of their better players, including Allen Iverson, this series could soon be over. The Nuggets lost 96-91 in Game 3 and are now facing a near must win game tonight at home. Early betting for this game at SBG Global has the public all over the Spurs laying the points.

The pivotal play in Game #3 came when Robert Horry stole an inbound pass from J.R. Smith in the 3rd quarter and went down and hit a big 3-pointer, part of a big 11-3 run that got the Spurs going. Horry hit another three in that run and it turned the game around. "I tried to pass to Allen Iverson," Smith said, "but Robert Horry was right there." "Horry's always lurking back there, causing havoc," Marcus Camby said.

The San Antonio Spurs are a 1.5 point favorite with a total of 191.5 at SBG Global.

J.R. Smith was terrible for Denver during a couple of bad stretches and his minutes may be limited tonight. He made a number of bad plays including a flagrant foul against Manu Ginobili. "We told him, you know, that wasn't what cost us the ball game," Camby said. "I think collectively we all didn't do our parts and it resulted in a loss. But you've got to take the good with the bad and he understands that. He's a young player."

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Home court seems to be everything so far in the series between the Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets. The Rockets won their two home games to take a 2-0 lead in the series and the Jazz have come back with two dominating wins of their own to even the series. The momentum is now with the Jazz but as SBG Global reports, early wagers have the public split on the decision but like the total going Under.

"They're playing with a great deal of confidence right now. So we ... we got to search," Houston's Tracy McGrady said. The Jazz are playing much better defense now having held Houston to 67 and 85 points the last two games. Houston shot terribly in Utah and also turned the ball over 35 times in two games. "It's not just getting one guy in gear. We've got to get our team competing at a higher level," Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy said.

The Houston Rockets are a 6.5 point favorite with a total of 184 at SBG Global.

Utah Forward Carlos Boozer has had a double-double in every game, averaging 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Deron Williams has averaged 16.5 points and almost eight assists per game. "We were a little surprised at how physical the playoffs really are, but now we've got our legs back under us," Utah's Matt Harpring said. "It is great to see how much energy we are playing with and our defense is great."

The Rockets will look to get on track tonight behind McGrady and Yao. Neither played that well in Utah. "It's about mental toughness," Yao said. "Mental toughness." History could be repeating itself for the Rockets. Two years ago they took a 2-0 lead against Dallas and ended up losing the series 4 games to three.

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The San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets play pivotal game #3 tonight in Denver as the best of seven series is tied 1-1. The Nuggets stole the first one and nearly stole the 2nd game but San Antonio withstood a late rally to win 97-88 and even the series. SBG Global reports that early betting has the public split on this decision with a few more dollars leaning towards the Nuggets.

Allen Iverson did not play well in the Nuggets loss and understands he must play better on Saturday. "I can't remember missing that many layups in one game in my career and not just layups but uncontested layups," Iverson said. "Like, I missed a couple layups that I know I can make with my eyes closed. So, hopefully I'll get those opportunities again." "I took 25 shots, so I obviously was aggressive out there," he said. "I don't (think) there's going to be games where I don't shoot any free throws. And I don't think there's going to be games where I miss that many layups."

The San Antonio Spurs are a 2 point favorite with a total of 193 at SBG Global.

The Nuggets are talking like a team capable of upsetting the Spurs even after the game 2 loss. "We sent the message that this isn't going to be an easy series," Nuggets J.R. Smith said. "A lot of people thought they were going to sweep us. We just knew that's not going to happen."

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