The Portland Trail Blazers need to turn things around quickly, as they’ve gone from a team firmly entrenched in the Western Conference playoff chase to a team battling for a play-in spot with the top seed. #11.
Damian Lillard and his gang have lost seven of their last ten games heading into Sunday’s game once morest the Dallas Mavericks.
Dallas hasn’t been great on the road this season, winning just eight of its 22 games. The team actually slipped behind the Sacramento Kings in the conference, but Dallas is still playing much better basketball than it did at the start of the season.
These two teams met on Saturday evening. Portland took a 17-point win at home and limited Luka Doncic to 15 points.
Tim Hardaway Jr. was injured for Dallas in this game, so he might miss this game, as might forward Christian Wood (listed as a daily).
Here’s a look at the latest odds and my best bet for this Western Conference game:
Mavericks vs Trail Blazers odds, difference and total
Mavericks vs Trail Blazers – prediction and player picks
It’s hard to trust Dallas in this position with so many key players (Dorian Finney-Smith, Josh Green, Wood, Hardaway Jr.) injured, and Vegas listed them as 6.5 point dogs in this game.
Makes sense, especially since the Blazers won Saturday night.
Portland enters this game with a 7-5 ATS record as a home favorite, winning those games by an average margin of 8.8 ppg.
As long as the Blazers are playing Lillard, Anfernee Simons and most of their rotation players on a back-to-back, I like them covering on the road.
Unfortunately, Portland doesn’t have the luxury of seating players with the distance it has slipped in the standings over the past few weeks.
The Mavs might also be looking to give Luka a rest since so many other players are injured.
Either way, given Dallas’ struggles on the road this season, Portland is the go-to choice in this game.
Find Peter Dewey’s full betting history here.
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The odds of the games are updated periodically and are subject to change.
