It’s hard to win four games in a row in an NBA playoff series. The Golden State Warriors just experienced that failing to get the sweep of the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference final. No team has ever rebounded from a 0-3 series deficit in any NBA playoff round so the Mavs have a steep hill to climb. They took the first step toward history and avoided an embarrassing situation with an emphatic win on Tuesday night. To remain alive, Dallas will have to do something no team has accomplished this postseason: win at Chase Center. The Warriors are 8-0 at home with five of those victories by double digits.
Game 5 of the Western Conference final between the Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors will air live on TNT with tip off at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 26, 2022 from Chase Center. BookMaker.eu will have betting options for every game on the NBA Playoff schedule.
NBA Betting Odds at BookMaker.eu
Dallas Mavericks +7.5
Golden State Warriors -7.5
Total 216.5
Playoff Analysis
As it was so eloquently said by Yogi Berra decades ago, it ain’t over till it’s over. And the Mavs lived to see another day with their 119-109 win on Tuesday, sending the series back to the Bay Area for Game 5. It was a credit to the Mavs that they played a solid game when they could have easily folded against a much better team. And I’m being realistic when I say that. Dallas played well, but the Warriors helped with poor shooting and mistakes that helped the Mavs build a 29-point lead. History isn’t on their side since no team has ever won a playoff series when down three games to none, but it’s a start and the Mavs needed a jolt after dropping the first three games by an average of 14.3 points.
I guess it’s common for a team to let out a collective sigh after winning the first three games of a series. And those victories came rather easily with the Mavs not offering much resistance. It’s time for the Warriors to refocus and have their coach pay attention to the game plan rather than advocate for stricter gun control. I’m not saying that was the issue, but it certainly took away from the task at hand. Or maybe the Warriors wanted to see if they could continue their mastery this postseason at home where the Dubs are 8-0 SU and 6-2 ATS. They won the first two games of this series by 25 and nine points.
Dallas Mavericks
At least the Mavs got a win despite another poor shooting night from Luka Doncic. Six players scored in double figures with Doncic dropping 30 on 10 of 26 shooting and 3 of 11 from behind the arc. Dorian Finney-Smith added 23 and Reggie Bullock had 18 after going without a point in the previous game. As a team the Mavs shot 50 percent from the field and were 20 of 43 on three-pointers.
Though they led by as many as 29 points, things got a little shaky in the fourth quarter. The Mavs saw their lead whittled down to eight with Doncic reinserted for stretches of the final 12 minutes. The Mavs played a strong game but they’ll need to be even better to win a game on the road. Doncic finished one assist shy of a triple-double adding 14 boards to go along with his point total.
Golden State Warriors
Ideally the Warriors would have loved to finish the series on Tuesday. However a tough start and poor shooting didn’t allow that to happen. With most of the starters on the bench in the fourth quarter after falling behind by 29 points, at least they got rested up for a better performance in Game 5. We didn’t see the volume of three-pointers from the Dubs, who were 10 of 28 from distance. Steph Curry was 2 of 5 and Klay Thompson 2 of 6 from deep.
The Warriors have yet to lose consecutive games in the postseason going 11-4 SU and 8-7 ATS overall, and they haven’t lost at home. Every now and then a team needs a wakeup call when players start to feel empowered by their success. The Warriors have to realize that the Mavs are out there trying to win a basketball game, too. They responded to their previous two playoff losses routing Denver and Memphis by an average of 22 points.
Mavericks at Warriors NBA Odds Pick
We’ll see the Warriors pick up the pace offensively, especially from behind the arc. They do it as well as any team with Curry and Thompson and they showed their depth by rallying from a large deficit to make Game 4 close. As much as I would like to see Dallas get a win and make this a longer series, I don’t think they can play the kind of game needed to beat Golden State on the road.
NBA Odds Prediction: Golden State Warriors -7.5 / OVER 216.5
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook!
