Don’t look now, but the Dallas Mavericks look to have righted the ship. Once in the basement of the NBA Southwest standings ahead of only the wretched Houston Rockets, Luka Doncic and company now sit tied with the San Antonio Spurs for the division lead. The Los Angeles Clippers on the other hand remain in the funk that affected their play heading into the All-Star break having just got their breakfast, lunch and dinner served up by Zion Williamson and the Pelicans in New Orleans on Sunday night. This will be the second of a two-game series and the Clippers will be out to avenge the ugly home defeat suffered at the hands of the Mavericks in late December in a game Kawhi Leonard was forced to miss. Will his presence be enough to change the outcome this time around? I don’t think so!
This battle of Western Conference heavyweights is set to go down live on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. Tip-off is set for 9:30 p.m. ET from the American Airlines Center. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN. We'll have NBA odds available at BookMaker.eu for this and every game on Wednesday’s NBA slate.
NBA Betting Lines at BookMaker.eu
Odds Analysis
From January 23 to February 10, the Mavericks battled COVID as well as a number of injuries that saw it manage just one pointspread cover in the 11 games played during that timeframe. Since then, Rick Carlisle’s troops have gone 7-4 ATS and came out victorious all but three times with the last defeat coming in the back end of a back-to-back at Oklahoma City. Dallas has been wretched on no rest this season in going 2-5 SU and ATS losing by an average of 18.6 points per game. It does however own a 14-10 SU record when playing on a full day of rest. As for LA, it’s been incredible on zero, two of three days’ rest (12-1, 10-3 ATS) but just 13-14 SU and 11-16 ATS on only one day of rest.
Los Angeles Clippers
After destroying the Golden State Warriors by 26 points out of the break, the Clippers failed to show in the bayou where it dropped an ugly 135-115 decision to a Pelicans team it struggled with earlier in the season as well. With Serge Ibaka forced from the game early on due to back tightness, the Pelicans went to work down low ultimately allowing the hosts to run away and hide the remainder of the game. New Orleans would ultimately outscore the Clippers 72-40 in the paint and win the battle of the boards 40-32. The defense also allowed the Pels to convert 12 of 25 long range shot attempts. LA’s defense has been the Achilles heel of late, and that must be remedied quick if it’s to tame a Mavs offense that’s gone for 115+ points in five of its last six games.
Dallas Mavericks
Dallas swept the ugly loss to the Thunder under the rug in big way on Saturday when it went into the Pepsi Center and handed Nikola Jokic and company a 116-103 defeat as short 1-point dogs. It was better than the Nuggs in all three phases converting at a near 50 percent clip from the field, while draining 18 of 46 3-point attempts and making all but two of its 16 attempts from the charity stripe. Most impressive was the defense that held Denver to 44 points in the second and third quarters combined after conceding 29 points in the opening quarter. Unlike tonight’s opponent, the Mavericks defense has really started to come around in allowing an average of just 103.7 points over the last nine games; better than 8.0 points less than its seasonal average.
Los Angeles vs. Dallas Prediction
I continue to like what I’m seeing from the Mavericks. While the train has already left the station when it comes to backing them to win the NBA Southwest, there’s still plenty of value to go around with their odds to win the West +2500as well as the whole enchilada +5000. Though this will be the second straight meeting with the Clippers, I haven’t liked what I’ve seen from Tyronn Lue’s squad for quite some time now. I recommended fading the Clippers at New Orleans on Sunday night and I’m going to advise doing the same in this spot as well. There’s something just not jiving with LA right now, and the fact that Patrick Beverley and Ibaka could miss this series only makes things worse. Going into the opener, Dallas had won and covered each of its previous four home games and I fully expect it to hold serve in this one as well; especially if they go down in defeat in the front end matchup on Monday night.
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