After the last few weeks Luka Doncic had the NBA should polish the MVP trophy for him. We haven’t yet reached the midway point of the season and the Dallas Mavericks are clinging to a top-six in the Western Conference, but where would the Mavs be without Luka? Doncic closed the week with 51 points in a win over San Antonio, his third 50-point game in the last five and the team’s sixth straight triumph. The Mavs will be tested by the NBA-best Boston Celtics when the two clash in the first game of TNT’s Thursday night doubleheader.
The contest between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks takes place at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, January 5, 2023 from American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX and will air live on TNT. BookMaker.eu will have odds for every game on the Thursday NBA schedule.
NBA Opening Lines at BookMaker.eu
Odds Analysis
The Celtics salvaged a season-long seven-game homestand winning the final four games going 3-1 ATS. However, the good times came to an end in Denver on Sunday with a 123-111 setback in the opener of a four-game road trip. Boston earned the top-spot in the overall NBA standings by being a good road team, but they dropped to 11-6 SU and 9-8 ATS with their loss as a 3.5-point underdog. The Celtics ended a four-game losing streak to Dallas with a 125-112 cover win in the Garden in November. The teams have historically played low scoring games with none scoring more than 116 points in the previous 12 encounters. The UNDER was 8-3-1 in those games.
With Doncic dropping points like snow falling during a bomb cyclone, the Mavs extended their winning streak to six games and continued their climb up the Western Conference standings. A little over two weeks ago the Mavs were stuck in a rut with a loss to Minnesota their fifth in seven games that dropped them below .500. Doncic scored a season-low 19 points in that game and the offense sputtered. The Mavs turned things around quickly, though, winning the next six games and their 126-125 win over the Spurs on Sunday was their fourth straight when scoring more than 120 points cashing the OVER in all of them.
Boston Celtics
The Celtics have been at or near the top of the East all season closing the week with a slim lead over Brooklyn and Denver for the best mark in the Association. While they don’t have a point-producing machine like Doncic, the Celtics rely on their 1-2 punch of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to lead the NBA averaging nearly 119 points. Tatum enters the week ranked fourth in scoring with 30.9 points with Brown at 27.1. They are the highest scoring teammates in the NBA averaging 58 points between them.
There aren’t a lot of points left to go around, but the Celtics do a good job with five other players scoring between nine and 13 points per game. Robert Williams recently returned giving the team a boost on the defensive end. Boston tops the NBA with a point differential of +6.2, but their loss in Denver on Sunday left them at 3-7-1 ATS in their last 11 games.
Dallas Mavericks
It’s worth watching just to see what Doncic does next. MVP’s aren’t won in December and January but players can make a push. Luka has been an elite player since joining the NBA and he’s taken his game to another level. A historic stretch saw the superstar do something no player in the history of the game has ever done. The run started with a 50-point, 10-assist game against Houston and included a triple-double of 60 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists in an overtime win over the Knicks. Doncic closed the week with 51 points against the Spurs giving him 228 points, 56 rebounds and 51 assists in a five-game span.
The Mavs needed everything Doncic had since they won all five by an average of just over seven points while going 2-3 ATS. Christian Wood chipped in to the offensive outburst averaging nearly 24 points in the last four games helping the Mavs score at least 124 points in every game to go 4-0 against the OVER. The Mavs have the second-best OVER percentage in the NBA and the OVER is 13-7 in their home games.
NBA Odds Pick
Doncic scored 42 and the Mavs shot 54 percent in their earlier loss to the Celtics. Boston has the deeper squad and is better all-around with that game being evidence that one player can’t beat a team. I like the Celtics to finish their road trip strong with a road win against a team that’s too inconsistent.
NBA Odds Prediction: Boston Celtics / UNDER
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