Dallas Mavericks vs. Utah Jazz Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 2/25/2022

Time: 9 p.m. ET

Venue: Vivint Arena, Salt Lake City, UT

Where to watch: ATTSN-RM, BSSW-DAL

DraftKings: Jazz -6

BetMGM: Jazz -6.5

Caesars: Jazz -6

Mavericks: 35-24

Jazz: 36-22

The Dallas Mavericks have a lot to prove in this second half of the season, one of those being can they actually win a consistent number of games without Kristaps Porzingis?

It is in fact time for Luka Doncic to ascend to being one of the top two or three players in the league, and he will get that opportunity knowing he does not have a 7 foot three Unicorn patrolling the paint or running behind him ready to shoot a 3 pointer.

But clearly the lack of Porzingis has not hurt Doncic from a production standpoint. Dallas’ superstar closed the All-Star break with a 49 point, 15 rebound performance against the New Orleans Pelicans in a seven-point victory for Dallas. Suddenly, The Mavericks are making a charge for a top-four spot in the Western Conference, and can take a great stride in making that a reality should they defeat the Utah Jazz on Friday.

In his last eight games before the All Star break, Doncic has turned into an unstoppable force. Again, this is just in the last eight games: Doncic has scored 36.3 points per game, grabbed 10.6 rebounds, and has dished 9.4 assists in 37 minutes a game.

These aren't just numbers that you can gather from a small two-game sample size. These aren't numbers that can be concocted in a video game on most times. Hell, this kid is the cover guy for NBA2K22 so it's not like this is out of the realm of possibility. But he has been on stoppable, and he now is the bona fide leader, no questions asked.

It's still going to be a work in progress to see if Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans can be pieces that will help Doncic get further than the first round of the playoffs. Time will tell, but their opponent on Friday will be one of those teams in the way.

After a depressing 5 game losing streak toward the end of January, the Utah Jazz found a way to dig deep and get back to their winning ways. It certainly helped the Donovan Mitchell return from concussion protocol, reminding everyone involved that Utah is as dangerous of a team as possible when it comes to their full bill of health.

And although the jazz lost by five points at the Los Angeles Lakers on February 16th, to see Mitchell go for 37 points, scoring at least 30 for the third time in five games, Utah has to be feeling really good about where it is right now.

The Jazz just got Rudy Gobert back from injury, and although the loss of Joe Ingles hurts tremendously, even after trading the injured 6th man of the year candidate to Portland, there is still plenty of talent for Utah to work with to not only get back to the playoffs but make a much stronger run than they did last year.

At the end of the day, last season might have been Utah's best chance to make a deep run. As the top seed in the Western Conference, running into the Clippers and losing to them in the way that they did was probably not best for their collective psyche. And when you look at the Western Conference now, with the resurgence of the Golden State Warriors, and the staying power of the Phoenix Suns from a year ago, Utah is in for a tough run against these top teams.

And it just so happens that one of those teams that they will have to go through at some point is their opponent on Friday. And while Utah has more talent top to bottom than Dallas does, there aren't many guys you can look at the Utah squad and put them in front of Doncic and believe that he can stop him.

I don't doubt the overall talent level that Utah possesses but if Dallas’ star gets hot as we've seen over the last number of games before the break, there's no stopping him.

Normally I wouldn't like the first game out of the break to be such a measuring stick game, but I am looking at Dallas and seeing if this is the time they can actually get things rolling. Utah is laying six points at most of the books and I would say that's a fair number for Dallas too look at stealing on the road against the spread. Dallas has covered six of its last seven overall and has covered its last four games on a Friday. That latter part really won't matter much, but if Doncic keeps the way he's been playing to this point I have a tough time thinking Utah is any way to stop him. Mavs by 2

The Mavericks are 362-278 ATS as a road dog since 1996.

The Mavericks are 11-1 ATS getting revenge on an opponent from an earlier-season loss.

The Jazz are 27-12 ATS after covering five or six of their last seven.

PG: Luka Doncic

SG: Jalen Brunson

SF: Reggie Bullock

PF: Dorian Finney-Smith

C: Maxi Kleber

PG: Mike Conley

SG: Donovan Mitchell

SF: Bojan Bogdanovic

PF: Royce O'Neale

C: Rudy Gobert

Mavericks: Marquese Chriss (out), Trey Burke (out) 

Jazz: Rudy Gay (out)

Points: Luka Doncic -- 27.5

Rebounds: Luka Doncic -- 9.2

Assists: Luka Doncic -- 9.0

Points: Donovan Mitchell -- 25.7

Rebounds: Rudy Gobert -- 14.8

Assists: Mike Conley -- 5.3