Things are going from bad to worse for the Dallas Mavericks who are in Atlanta tonight to take on the Atlanta Hawks. The Mavs lost their 3rd game in a row on Wednesday as they fell at home to the Phoenix Suns 132-109. Luka Doncic dropped 34 points and dished out 9 assists, but only 2 other teammates scored in double-figures which is concerning. Dallas will be looking to add a 3rd scorer behind Doncic and Irving as we approach the trade deadline. The most rumored name out there is Portland’s Jerami Grant, but it remains to be seen if they can arrange some kind of deal with the Blazers. Until then the Mavs need to get some wins badly, they’ve now dropped to 8th in the West standings with just a 2 game lead over the Lakers and Jazz behind them. Kyrie Irving might return to the line-up after missing the Suns game, he has been bothered by a finger injury.
Atlanta has it’s own injury issues with their best player Trae Young being out with a concussion. Young has missed the last 2 games, he is a game time decision to play here. To have him tonight would be massive for Atlanta, he’s averaging 20.6 points and 12.8 assists per game in the last 5 meetings with Dallas. Just like the Mavs, the Hawks too are on a 3-game losing streak and desperately looking to turn things around. With a 18-26 SU record, they are barely clinging on to a play-in tournament spot, but the Nets and Raptors are lurking behind. The good news for the Hawks is that they are 9-1 SU in their last 10 home games vs Dallas, but they cannot rely solely on that stat and hope to get a win here. The oddsmakers have them as slight underdogs, that’s due to them being the worst team against the spread this year at just 11-33 ATS.
