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The LA Lakers will host the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night / Saturday morning in the NBA.
The Lakers (12-9, 7-4 home) are coming after an 8 point home win against an Oladipo-less Pacers team last night. It was the first win for LA after two consecutive losses, as the Lakers are now sitting on the 7th place in the Western Conference. A win today over the Mavs would really help the Lakers to get a foothold on a playoff position, even if it`s still very early in the season.
The Mavs (10-9, 2-7 away) are riding high at the moment. With three wins in a row and 7 in their last 8 games, the Mavs are definitely one of the most in form teams in the league. The team started to click after a rough start, and it`s fair to say that Dallas is a legit playoff contender at this point. Last time out, they demolished the Rockets in Houston by 20 points two nights ago.
Bet on Lakers v Mavericks and claim your 100% (120 Eur) welcome bonus at LSbet!Team news: LA`s only absentee is Rajon Rondo, who is out for some time. The Mavs will continue to be without Nowitzki, while Powell and Smith Jr are questionable – but both are expected to play. Even if they won`t, it shouldn`t be that big of a deal for the Mavs.
This will be a tricky game for the Lakers, as they are not playing particularly well right now, while Dallas is red hot.
The Lakers will also have to deal with the fact that they are back to back, with Lebron James playing 38 minutes last night and three other players surpassing the 30 minute mark.
The bookies say the Lakers are 4 points favorites tonight, but this looks like it should be closer than that, particularly with the back to back factor working against LA.
The two teams met once before this season at the same venue and the Lakers barely won by 1 point, even if at that point the Mavs were struggling and weren`t playing anywhere near as good as they are now.
A very interesting and relevant statistic is the fact that the Lakers are the second worst ATS team in the NBA (8-13), while Dallas is the best (13-6)! In translation, only one team in the league is worse at covering the spread than the Lakers, while the Mavs cover the spread more often than anybody. This is a big argument for Dallas here.
My tip will be the Mavs to cover the +4 (asian) handicap, I reckon they continue to be a bit underrated, while the Lakers continue to be overrated – as the ATS stats confirm. Prediction: Los Angeles Lakers – Dallas Mavericks 107 – 111.
Pick: Mavs +4
Odds: 1.93 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 7.44
Event date: 1 December
