The needle has not moved much for the top spots in the Eastern Conference. The Bucks, despite having a few setbacks, remain on top.
The Heat have found their spot at second and are trying to dig in. The Celtics and Raptors are in third and fourth, with the Sixers knocking at the door.
Over in the Left Coast Conference, the Lakers still have their foot on the neck of the west. The Nuggets have recaptured second and the Clippers have fallen back down to 4th, though it remains an extremely tight race between the Rockets, Jazz and Clippers, all fighting for that No. 3 spot.
And the Mavericks are just a game and a half out of that same seed, but back in 6th. It seems like each and every year, the Western Conference has a handful of teams that are clumped together record-wise.
Thursday evening holds a short slate, so let’s look at a couple of impactful Friday games.
Los Angeles Lakers @ Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks are one of the few teams that have shown they have the formula to beat LeBron James and his teammates.
Back on December 1st, the Mavericks crushed the Lakers, 100-114 in LA. Then, the Lakers visited Dallas on the 29th and got a decisive 108-95 win. However, Luka Doncic was out with a bum ankle.
This time around, it looks like the Lakers will be without Anthony Davis. But, the basketball gods counter with Kristaps Porzingis missing the game. AD has a bruised tailbone, while Porzingis has a tweaked knee.
The Lakers are on a six-game winning streak after going on an epic four-game skid where they lost two away and two at home. But, Dallas will be their toughest opponent since facing the Mavs five games ago.
Updated Stats
- The Lakers are scoring 112.8 points per game, but improve to 113.2 while out on the road for the No. 7 road offense.
- The Mavericks are scoring 116.7 points per game on average, but decline to 115.7 while at home in the American Airlines Center for the No. 7 home offense.
- The Lakers have the No. 3 defense in the league, allowing just 104.86 points per game. But, they play worse on the road, conceding 107.11 points, which is still good enough for the No. 5 road defense.
- The Mavs allow 109.3 points per game on any given night, but improve to 108.1 in Dallas, owning the No. 13 home defense in the NBA.
- Although the Lakers have gone 6-0 recently, they have only covered the point spread in three of their last 12 games.
- Historically, the Lakers own the Mavs. They have won seven of the last eight meetings.
- The Total Score has been low in recent Lakers games. The UNDER has cashed in eight of the last eleven and four of the last five.
- When the Lakers and Mavs meet, the UNDER has cashed in six of the last seven.
- Dallas has covered the point spread well at home, going just 1-6-1 in the last eight.
- The Mavs have won just two of their last six games, going W, L, W, L after losing two games back to back.
With Davis not roaming under the rim, I really like the chance the Mavs have for Doncic to take over and put up an amazing game.
That said, they could be a bit hamstrung if Porzingis isn’t up to snuff.
As much as I would like to automatically hop on the UNDER in this one, we don’t know the odds just yet and with Porzingis out and AD questionable, there could be more scoring than we might initially assume.
I’m going to guess that the books line the Lakers out as slight favorites in this one, but I handicap the Mavs at -1.
So, if the Lakers do come in as the favorites later tonight or Friday morning when the lines are released, hop on the Mavericks as underdogs as there is value on them stealing a game off the Lakers outright on Friday night.
