Phoenix Suns vs Dallas Mavericks betting tips and predictions for Monday’s NBA Western Conference Playoff game on TNT. It promises to be an exciting series between the Suns and Mavericks as they open up their conference semi-finals tonight at the Footprint Center. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Phoenix Suns
An injury to Devin Booker and a feisty opponent in the 1st Round meant that the Suns needed 6 games in order to advance against the New Orleans Pelicans. That’s all behind them now, as Booker is back from injury and will only progress from now on. In the series clincher Chris Paul turned back the clock once again with 33 points and 8 assists while shooting 100% from the field, from three and from the free throw line. Booker had only 13 points, but Suns fans are happy regardless just to see him out there.
Playing the Mavs will be a different challenge, even if they have won all 3 regular season meetings. All 3 of those games were decided by under 10 points, so we could be in for an exciting series here. Suns enter Game 1 riding a 5-game home win streak against Dallas.
Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks escaped Utah thanks to a last second miss from Bojan Bogdanovic, which could have forced a Game 7. Instead, they won the series 4-2 making the most of Luka Doncic coming back from injury after the first 3 games.
With him looking like he hasn’t missed a beat, the Mavericks aren’t without a chance in this series, but they’ll need everyone to step up if they want to have a chance against the defending West champions.
They’ve actually lost 9 games in a row against Phoenix, which is a bit odd for a Doncic led team. Bettors might back them to cover tonight as their record stands at 6-1 ATS in their last 7 road games, they enter tonight’s game as 5.5 point underdogs. Against Western Conference opponents this team has gone 16-3 SU in their last 19 games, so even a win tonight wouldn’t exactly be a shocker to anyone.
Phoenix win is the ‘safe’ bet tonight, but I have a feeling the Mavericks could surprise them here. The Suns are just 21-23 ATS at home this season, while Dallas has covered 27 of 44 games on the road, plus they’ve already won twice away from home in the series vs Utah. Give me Luka and the extra points on the road.
Phoenix Suns vs Dallas Mavericks & Odds
Similar to the other game being played tonight, this one could also be a defensive battle at least if we are to take the regular season meetings into consideration. Those 3 games have averaged just 209.6 points per game and the total has gone under in 2 of them.
For the Mavs, ever since Luka came back their pace of play has dropped off significantly causing the total to finish under in 4 of their last 5 games vs the Jazz. That plays perfectly into tonight’s match-up as the last 6 of 8 Dallas games on the road in Phoenix have all gone under the total.
Looking at the defensive efficiency for this season – the Mavs rank 6th allowing 106.8 points per 100 possessions, while the Suns are even better at 104.7 points. They do play different styles when it comes to pace with Phoenix ranking 9th and Dallas being 30th, but this being the playoffs I expect things to slow down as both teams will want to set the tone here with a series opener win. Expect a defensive slugfest here and whoever gets more stops will come out on top. Back the under.
