Los Angeles Lakers vs Dallas Mavericks betting tips and predictions for Friday’s NBA game on NBA TV. The Lakers and Mavs wrap up their regular season series with their 4th meeting tonight, with a play-in tournament spot on the line tonight at crypto.com Arena. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Los Angeles Lakers
Things are very complicated in the Western Conference right now and they’re about to get even more complicated as the 8th placed Mavs take on the 9th placed Lakers. The two teams are separated by only a game in the standings, right now we have 7 teams within 2.5 games with only 4 play-in tournament spots available.
LA comes into tonight’s game following a disappointing loss in Houston, resting a healthy Anthony Davis proved to be too costly and now they’re in scramble mode against a direct competitor in the West. Dallas has beaten them already twice this season, but despite that LA enters the game as 5-point favorites.
Dallas Mavericks
Dallas received some really good news ahead of tonight’s game as Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic both participated in practice yesterday which is a really good sign if you’re a Mavs fan. Neither of those two played in the Mavs’ last win, as they took down the San Antonio Spurs on the road in overtime. They’ve pretty much owned the Lakers winning 4 of the last 5 meetings and also covering the spread 7 times in the last 8 head-to-head.
The pairing of Irving and Doncic hasn’t resulted in as many wins as Dallas had hoped, but with 12 games to go they still have enough time to build much needed chemistry between them. Road form is something they’ll need to work on, they’ve won just 1 of their last 5 games away from American Airlines Center.
Assuming both Doncic and Irving play here, I’d give the Mavs a pretty good chance of covering the spread. They are 7-3 ATS in the last 10 against the Lakers, LA hasn’t been reliable enough to warrant me trusting them they can win this game by 6 points. Dallas to cover.
Los Angeles Lakers vs Dallas Mavericks Predictions & Odds
The tempo has fallen off so drastically in Lakers games lately that we saw just 224 points in their game against the high paced Houston Rockets. Against the Mavericks who rank 29th in pace of play averaging just 98.5 possessions per game it should be another game filled with a ton of half court action. Anthony Davis also lifts the Lakers defense a lot, they’re a top 3 team in efficiency on that end in the last 10 or so games.
We’ve seen the under cash 9 times in the last 12 Lakers games, including 7 of their last 8 at home. In head-to-head meetings vs the Mavs the under is 5-2 in the last 7 played, while at crypto.com Arena it’s cashed 7 times in the last 8 between them. With us still not being sure if either of Irving or Doncic will play, I feel like backing the under is the way to go.
