NBA Basketball: Dallas Mavericks VS Los Angeles Lakers Pick and Predictions 03/17/2023

Game: 10:10 PM ET,  Friday, March 17th, 2023

Venue: Crypto.com, Arena, Los Angeles, California

TV:  NBA TV

Mavericks: 35-35, 8th place Western Conference

Lakers: 34-36, 9th place Western Conference

BetMGM:  Point Spread: Lakers -4.5, O/U 228.5

PointsBet: Point Spread: Lakers -4.5, O/U 228

Fanduel: Point Spread:  Lakers -4.5, O/U 228

Mavericks: PG Frank Ntilikina, SG Justin Holiday, SF Josh Green, PF Reggie Bullock, C Dwight Powell

Lakers: PG D’Angelo Russell, SG Malik Beasley, SF Troy Brown Jr, PF Jarred Vanderbilt, C Anthony Davis

An NBA Western Conference matchup of teams hovering around the 8th and 9th spots in teh standings.  The Dallas Mavericks are cursed.  Truly cursed.  I believe the curse came from when they traded away 60% of their 2011 NBA Championship team.. In order to get PF/C Dirk Nowistki better teammates.. The Basketball Gods do not look highly on that… Why did they want BETTER when they just won the championship? The gamble did not pay off.. They also jettisoned the only Championship winning head coach in Mavericks history (Rick Carlysle).. In order to hire Supervillain Jason Kidd?  At this moment in time they just executed a trade for the league’s flightiest person/player Kyrie Irving.. In the hopes of pairing that superstar with their own real superstar PG Luka Doncic… did anyone tell Dallas that Kyrie actually plays PG too?... And that Kyrie can move to the SG position but won’t be able to handle the defensive responsibilities there… But who cares?... because both Luka and Kyrie are out with injury. That leaves Dallas clinging to the edge of the playoffs in the final push and putting an entire team of unheralded NBA role players on the court every night.  The Lakers are supremely blessed.  Even with the Buss Kids running the show into the ground.. To the point of being a laughing stock for 9 of their last 10 seasons?... They still won a Championship in the one not laughing stock season.  They bungled having  PF/PG LeBron James (the GOAT) on their team by painting themselves into a corner of having no shooters and no draft picks to trade with… and suddenly the league bailed them out.  Seriously… the league gave them shooters and forwards and young athletic players to actually build them a team.  And now that the Lakers have risen from 13th in the West to 9th in the West and will be missing LeBron almost the rest of the season… It turns out that everyone that might try to take that spot in the standings… isn’t winning and looks to be not even trying to win.  The Lakers will backdoor into the Playoffs this year, get Lebron back, and he will have a good team around him?... That is if Anthony Davis can stay upright for the next two months.  The great betting opportunity here is knowing the Mavericks will have nothing on the floor and trying to determine if Anthony Davis won’t bungle that reality?

The Dallas Mavericks have won just 4 of their last 10 games.  They struggled with Luka and Kyrie and are now struggling without Kyrie and Luka.  They did win their last game though… against the San Antonio Spurs 137-128 (in overtime).  In the win they had 5 role players score 20 or more points… Dwight Powell, Regghie Bullock, Josh Green, Christian Wood (who led the team with 28 points), and Jaden Hardy… recognize any of those names?  The Spurs are truly bad BTW.  

The Los Angeles Lakers have won 6 of their last 10 games and have been able to ride that mediocrity UP the standings.  They lost their last game in a true Head Scratcher… to the worst team in the Western Conference, the Houston Rockets, 114-110.  In that loss the Lakers  did not play “pain free” C Anthony Davis.  That is mind boggling considering the Lakers are the team at the moment that MOST needs wins.  In the loss they got 24 points from bench G/F Austin Reeves who should not be the Lakers leading scorer in a game right now or there is sure to be trouble brewing… they also got 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists from PF Jarred Vanderbilt who was pressed into being the starting Center out of necessity created by the pain free Anthony Davis.

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Our prediction for Friday, March 17th is…. Lakers 118 - Mavericks 117

Bet on the Mavericks. The Lakers may get the win, but will be spotting 4.5 points.  Plus this, like every other game, could be the time that Anthony Davis goes down with a twisted ankle or knee swelling.  Davis has only played in about 48 games a year per the last 5 seasons… It is more than likely he tweaks something.

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The Mavericks are 8-23 ATS after having lost 2 of their last 3 games this season.

The Lakers are 2-1 ATS versus Dallas in Los Angeles the last 3 seasons.

Mavericks: C Christian Woods.  Christian does not play as much as he should because of the defensive problems he brings… However with Luka and Kyrie OUT.. Christian is Dallas best bet for scoring.

Lakers: G/F Austin Reeves.  Austin is making every undrafted free agent in basketball proud.  He had a stellar college career and was deemed “not athletic enough”... plus the whole “too old” thing that gets put on 22 or 23 year olds in the NBA draft.  After going undrafted the Lakers picked him up because they simply didn’t have players.  Austin has bought himself a next contract and possibly a long NBA role player career.

Mavericks: Jason “supervillian” Kidd

Lakers: Darvin “Hammy” Ham