The big news coming out of Dallas ahead of this game is the status of Luka Doncic who hasn’t played in the last 3 games for the Mavs. Luka is currently dealing with an ankle injury, he’s officially listed as questionable and we won’t know minutes until tip-off if he will play. How does that impact the betting strategy here? Well, the Mavericks are 3.5 point underdogs without their best player despite being 7 games over the .500 mark. They’ve already beaten the Lakers in both meetings this season, extending their solid run in the last 8 head-to-head meetings to 7-1 SU. It will be up to Kyrie Irving to carry the bulk of the scoring load here. He just had 42 points in the win over the Pelicans. Tim Hardaway Jr. also stepped up with 41, including 9 threes made. Dallas is an impressive 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games vs Western Conference opponents.
Optimism is back among the LA faithful following their 7-point win against the OKC Thunder which stopped a 2-game losing streak. As usual it was Anthony Davis and LeBron James who led the way with 27 and 25 points. AD also added 15 rebounds and 5 assists to his name, the Lakers are a tough match-up for anyone in the NBA when he has it going. The question is can they sustain this level of play in back-to-back games? The key for LA here is the fact that they’re playing at home where they’ve won 14 of 21 games this season. One key difference in those home games is the Lakers’ defense – their efficiency improves from 17th to 6th at Crypto.com Arena. They just held one of the most talented offenses in the league to just 105 points on Monday, so it’s pretty clear what their approach will be in tonight’s game.
