Game Time: 7:00 PM ET, Sunday, January 2nd, 2022 

Venue:  Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Where to Watch:  NBA League Pass

DraftKings:  Spread: NL

BetMGM:  Spread:  NL

VegasInsider:  Spread:  PK

Caesars: Spread: PK

WON AGAIN overall with 2-1 Friday but the lone loss was a rare one in NBA! ASA has been RED HOT long-term and this includes 11 of last 16 Top Play Totals NBA WINNERS dating to late October! This one is particularly SPECIAL in terms of situations involving totals. In fact, it is such a powerful situation that it is #1 STRONGEST E.C. Total of MONTH! Go get it! Get ASA Inc’s picks right now at the Shop Picks page, where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers. NCAAF, NFL, MLB… get positive value from all your bets! Expert picks!  Fun fact… winning a wager is much better than making a wager!

Mavericks: 17-18, 8th place Western Conference

Thunder: 13-22, 12th place Western Conference

The Mavericks have been mired around 8th place in the Western Conference for awhile now.  They are struggling while their all-star all-nba point guard Luka Doncic is sidelined with an ankle injury.  Luka only leads them in points, assists, and rebounds… so they are having trouble how to properly distribute all that usage.  In fact the team only has one other legitimate star in PF/C Kristaps Porzingas.  The entire rest of the roster is made up of quality NBA bench players… because the salary cap is split between Luka and Kristaps… they are forced to squeeze these quality bench players into starting roles… They are probably the best team to consider trading for Philadelphia 76er tantrum throwing hold out Ben Simmons… if just to have a quality player who doesn’t need or maybe even want shots… problem is they have little Philly would want to have back outside of Kristaps and Luka.  In their last two games the Mavericks have played the Sacramento Kings twice in a row.  They lost the first in a squeaker 95-94 finish… They won the second with an easy 112-96 finish.  It’s interesting that both teams lost on their home floor during the stand. Dallas is 5-5 over their last ten games, but 7-3 ATS.  They offer quality betting opportunities as they hustle and play hard.  Without Luka though it’s tough to get a bead on whether that will be enough.  8 guys are right now on the Covid protocol list, but Maxi Kleber and Tim Hardaway JR will be eligible to rejoin the team in time for the game… and going forward the protocols have been relaxed a bit to allow players to return earlier.  

The Oklahoma City Thunder are a bad team.  They are actually not a complete team as they are the uneven results of a rebuilding project.  Over the last 4 seasons Kevin Durant left Russell Westbrook and the team in free agency to get an easy Championship ring.  A lot of big names were tried on the roster… Chris Paul, Paul George,... and ultimately Russell Westbrook was gone… all that tumult left a team with young players and a ton of draft capital on the shelf.  They don’t win NBA basketball games… yet oddly they are fun to watch.  They have two very fun players in PG Shai Gilgeous Alexander, who seems to dominate then disappear then dominate then disappear again, and SG/SF Luguentz Dort.  Dort is a hustle guy who plays defense first and you can see the emotion all over his face. It's also a fun story to know he made it into the league as an undrafted free agent.  Dort is probably better suited as a sixth man of the year type… coming off the bench on a good team, but OKC is not a good team… so he gets to start.  Oklahoma City is 5-5 over their last ten games… a marked improvement over most of their ten game frames this season.  They better be careful… if they win too much they’ll be ruining the amount of ping pong balls they get in the lottery.  They are a good betting opportunity as they are 7-3 ATS over their last ten games.

The Mavericks are 24th in scoring in the NBA with 105.5 ppg, 25th in rebounds with 43.5 rpg, and 4th in AST/TO ratio with 1.9… They are shooting 20th in FG% and 25th in 3PT%.  They are a stout defensive team ranking 4th and holding opponents to 104.9 points per matchup.

Our prediction for Sunday, January 2nd is…. Mavericks 114 - OKC 100

That’s right the Thunder will be missing PG Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and back-up PG Tre Mann and quality young SF Darius Bazley and reliable young SF Jeremiah Robinson-Earl in this one due to Covid protocols… Missing two guys each at two spots in the line-up will make up for the Mavs missing Luka Doncic.  The rest of the Mavs are a solid enough group to hammer home the win.  If this stays a PK game?… get your bet in and take Dallas… if the line moves Dallas up to -5? take Dallas… if the line moves further?… avoid the bet.

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Dallas is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings with the Thunder.

This matchup has registered 5 Unders in the last 7 meetings.

Dallas is 8-4 ATS versus OKC over the last 3 seasons.

Mavs: PG Luka Doncic (ankle) Quest ** PG Frank Ntilikina (thigh) Quest ** C Willie Cauley-Stein (covid) Out  The Mavs have a couple players like Maxi Kleber and Tim Hardaway Jr that may be eligible to rejoin the team after being on the Covid list by Sunday morning.

Thunder: PG Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (covid) Out, ** SF Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (covid) Out ** SF Darius Bazley (covid) Out ** PG Tre Mann (covid) Out

Mavericks: PF Kristaps Porzingis, SF Dorian Finney-Smith, C Dwight Powell, PG Jalen Brunson, SG Reggie Bullock

Thunder: SF Luguentz Dort, PF Paul Watson, C Isaiah Roby, PG Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, SG Aaron Wiggins

Mavericks

Points: Luka Doncic 25.6

Assists: Luka Doncic 8.5

Rebounds: Luka Doncic 8.0

Steals: Dorian Finney-Smith 1.3

Blocks: Kristaps Porzingis 1.7

Thunder

Points: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 22.7

Assists: Josh Giddey 6.1

Rebounds: Josh Giddey 7.1

Steals: Luguentz Dort 1.0

Blocks: Darius Bazley 1.3

Mavericks:  Jason Kidd.  Coach Kidd is an NBA legend who gives off vibes that he should be sitting at that big table in the legion of doom on the DC cartoons from the 80’s.

Thunder: Mark Daigneault.  Coach D got the Thunder head coaching job in 2020 when Billy Donovan jumped from the sinking ship to take the Chicago Bulls job…. One of those two guys is happy with the roster they have.