The Brooklyn Nets are proving that they are much more than just the big three. Getting contributions up and down the roster, the Nets finished off a perfect 5-0 road trip with wins over the LA clubs and extended their run to seven by taking down Sacramento for the second time in a week. They look to continue their assault on the top spot in the Eastern Conference with a primetime showdown against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday.
The contest between the Dallas Mavericks and Brooklyn Nets takes place at 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, February 27, 2021, from Barclays Center in Brooklyn and will air live on ABC. BookMaker.eu will have odds for every game on the Saturday NBA schedule.
NBA Opening Lines at BookMaker.eu
Odds Analysis
Don’t look now but the Nets aren’t the only team on a roll. The Mavs are playing their best basketball of the season and climbed back to .500 with a win over the Celtics on Tuesday, their second straight triumph and sixth in seven games. They are 3-1 ATS in their last four outings. All that damage came at home where it looks like the Mavs finally figured things out. Just when they did it’s time to go back on the road. It’s been three weeks since they last played an away game and this will be only their second road tilt in almost a month. A game at Houston last week was postponed. You can say the Mavs are consistent. They are 15-15 overall entering the week going 8-8 at home and 7-7 on the road. No team is hotter than the Nets right now. They returned home Tuesday after a perfect five-game road trip and beat Sacramento 127-118 for their seventh straight win. They are 7-0 ATS in that run. Twenty games into the James Harden era the Nets are 14-6 SU and 11-9 ATS.
Dallas Mavericks
Doncic is doing things an MVP would do, and the Mavs are reaping the benefits. Doncic will have many more tie-breaking baskets in the final minute of a game during his career, but he had two against the Celtics. The last with one-tenth of a second left lifting the Mavs to a 110-107 victory. Just a few days earlier Doncic missed a potential game-tying three-pointer in a 121-118 loss to Phoenix. Following a loss to Portland on Valentine’s Day when Doncic scored 44 points, Rick Carlisle said he needed to figure out a way to get more balance in the offensive attack.
The likely candidate to help out is Kristaps Porzingis, but he’s played horrible defense since returning to the lineup. He missed wins over Memphis and Boston with a sore back, though he’s expected to be ready for Saturday. It seemingly doesn’t matter with Doncic dialed in. He topped the 40-point mark three times and is averaging nearly 41 points over the last seven outings. Maybe he doesn’t need any help.
Brooklyn Nets
Are the Nets ready for primetime? We kinda figured the networks would pay closer attention after the deal for Harden was consummated. And now that they’re winning it’s an even sweeter deal for the league’s broadcast partners. The thing is we haven’t seen a lot of the big three on the court together in the same game. Durant has been out of the lineup since the first game of the recent road trip. The backcourt duo of Harden and Kyrie Irving has picked up the slack, though. Harden is averaging 25.2 points since joining the club, but he’s also taken over point guard duties and averages 11.6 assists.
Even without KD the Nets are lethal. In the last five games he missed they’re averaging over 122 points, which is higher than their NBA leading season average of 121.2. The Nets also lead the league in field goal percentage and rank second in three-point percentage. Since getting Harden the Nets are 7-1 SU and 5-3 ATS at home and the OVER is 15-5 in 20 games since pulling the trigger on the blockbuster. With KD sidelined others have stepped up. Bruce Brown scored 29 points against the Kings and Harden had his sixth triple-double with the Nets tallying 29 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists.
NBA Odds Pick
Durant is expected out until early next month, but that hasn’t been an issue lately. Harden and Irving are co-existing in the backcourt after their roles were defined. And the reserves and bench have been solid. I don’t see Dallas getting the upset as well as the Nets are playing, but Doncic will do his best.
NBA Odds Prediction: Nets 127, Mavericks 118
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