Golden State Warriors vs Dallas Mavericks betting tips and predictions for Wednesday’s NBA Western Conference Finals Game 1 on TNT. It promises to be an exciting series opener between the Mavericks and Warriors as they get going in their series tonight at Chase Center. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors put their 8-game home win streak on the line as they welcome the Dallas Mavericks to Chase Center for Game 1. Golden State comes into this game having had 2 extra days of rest because they took care of business against Memphis in 6 games, while the Mavs needed all 7 to get past through the Suns.
Klay Thompson exploded for 30 points in the closeout game against the Grizzlies connecting on 8 threes in the process and that must feel so good for Warriors fans who have been waiting on Klay to get going for a while now.
Although they don’t have a good head-to-head record in the last 10 meetings, Golden State opens the series as 5-point favourites at home where they are yet to lose in the playoffs. For the season they are 37-10 at Chase Center and they’ve also covered in 27 of 47 games. It is worth noting though that they beat Dallas by 38 points once at home this season.
Dallas Mavericks
Dallas’ optimism ahead of tonight’s game lies in the fact that they are 8-2 SU in the last 10 meetings with the Warriors and they’ve also won once at Chase Center this season, after coming back from as much as 21 points in that game.
Luka Doncic will once again be essential to their success here, he averaged 31.5 points in the 4 meetings with Golden State in the regular season and against Phoenix he had yet another stellar game to close them out on Sunday.
This is the first time Luka has made it this far in the postseason, so I’m interested to see if nerves get the best of him in the series opener. Dallas has covered the spread in 9 of their last 12 games vs Western Conference teams, they’ve also beaten the Warriors in 5 of the last 6 meetings.
All those stats go out the window tonight I think, these are the playoffs and the Warriors are a completely different beast at this stage of the season. They have a ton more experience than the Mavs and I think ultimately that’ll make the difference in this series. I think Golden State has played well enough to earn our trust and for us to back them to cover in Game 1.
Golden State Warriors vs Dallas Mavericks Predictions & Odds
I must say I am a bit surprised the projected total for tonight’s game has been set at only 214.5 points. These 2 teams have been involved in quite a few high scoring games in recent head-to-head meetings and the stats are all pointing to a high scoring game tonight. Over the last 10 meetings, the total has been cashed on the over 7 times, while an average of 233 points per game were scored in those games. If we expand our search to the last 16 games between them, then the over has landed 12 times.
Dallas fancies going over the total quite a lot on the road with 8 of their last 11 games ending in that way. Golden State leads the playoffs in points per game at the moment with 114.2, while the Mavs are 10th with 106.2 which means if both teams reach their averages we are well on our way to a high scoring output. Both teams are also lethal from the perimeter – they enter tonight’s game as the 3rd and 4th most efficient teams from three-point land. Dallas is connecting on 38.5% of their threes, while Golden State is slightly behind with 37.7%. I think backing the over is the way to go in the series opener, so let’s go with the points.
