Lakers vs. Mavericks Pick
Can the Dallas Mavericks handle their business at home when they host the Los Angeles Lakers today at 3:30PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, the Mavericks are favored at home in this game, as they are getting odds of -6 points against the Lakers. The over/under total for the contest is listed at 206 points. Dallas has dominated this series, winning 10 straight while going 5-1 against the spread in the last six in this series. Dallas owns two wins over the Lakers already this season as well.
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The Mavericks have lost two straight games coming into today and are now 14-29 overall. They are 4-1 against the spread in their last five to get to 21-22 against the spread for the season. Dallas struggles offensively, averaging just 96 points per game. However, over their last five games, they are putting up 102.4 points per game. Defensively, Dallas is pretty stout, allowing just 100.7 points per game. Harrison Barnes is averaging 20.5 points per game to lead the team while Wesley Matthews is adding 15 points per contest. J.J. Barea is out indefinitely with a lingering calf injury. He was averaging 12.2 points and 4.9 assists per game.
The Lakers snapped a five-game losing streak on Friday with a 108-96 win over the Pacers at home. Los Angeles is now 16-31 overall and 20-26-1 against the spread. Los Angeles has a very poor defense, allowing 110.2 points per game this season. On the road, they are giving up 112.4 points per game. Conversely, they average just 100.6 points per game on offense when away from home. Louis Williams is the leading scorer with 18 points per game. L.A. comes into this game very banged up as Luol Deng, Larry Nance Jr. and D’Angelo Russell are all dealing with injuries. Deng and Russell are questionable to play today while Nance is still out.
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While the Lakers picked up a nice win over the Pacers on Friday, expecting that to carry over on the road against a good defensive team is asking a lot. The Mavericks will be able to limit what L.A. is going to do on the scoreboard and the Mavericks should be able to pick up their scoring a bit against this poor defensive unit.
NBA DAILY PREDICTION: DALLAS MAVERICKS -6