NBA: Dallas Mavericks vs. Atlanta Hawks Preview, Odds, Prediction

Dallas Mavericks are in a desperate situation as they currently have six losses in a row, and look unrecognizable when comparing their performances to the last season. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Hawks are solid, stuck at .500 at the moment, which isn’t that bad. They still need to sort some things in the gameplan, but overall, the young team from Georgia is improving. Wednesday’s match will also be a meeting between Luka Doncic and Trae Young, two draft classmates, who were traded one for another.

Preview

Dallas Mavericks (8-13, +100) are arguably the biggest disappointment of the entire season so far. Luka and his crew struggle in every aspect of play. Unlike the previous season, or the one before, the Mavs’s chances to enter the playoffs are much smaller than the ones for reaching the postseason.

Their last two losses came against the Phoenix Suns, both in Texas, with the latest this Monday night. It was Devin Booker’s dagger in the final seconds of the match, with the sharpshooting guard hitting a go-ahead three for the final result, 109-108.

Luka had 25 points with 8 assists and five boards, while Josh Richardson contributed with one point fewer and five boards. Kristaps Porzingis recorded a double-double, 19 buckets, and 10 rebounds, but all this was not enough for the Mavs to snap the losing streak. The hosts had a poor shooting percentage, just 43%, making 37 of their 86 shots.

Atlanta Hawks (10-10, -110) had a very nasty schedule in the past few days, meeting Milwaukee, LA Clippers, Brooklyn Nets, and the LA Lakers in seven days. The only “weak” team during that stretch, were the Washington Wizards, whom Hawks defeated, 116-100.

Atlanta has two important players sidelined, De’Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic, who is injured for quite some time. However, the roster is deep enough to sustain such setbacks. Young, Collins, Capela, veteran Danilo Gallinari, Cam Reddish, and Kevin Huerter are enough for this side to keep on with the same pace. Oh, we forgot to mention Rajon Rondo. He isn’t playing too much, but is there to help with his experience.

John Collins established a nice partnership with Trae Young, and these two guys are harassing the rivals’ defenses, regardless of who is across the court. Against the Lakers, Collins had 22 points and 7 boards while Young posted 25 points with 16 dimes, the majority going to Collins.

Head to Head

Both teams used the home-court advantage last season. The Mavs were better at the American Airlines Center, 123-110. Atlanta responded with a victory at home, 111-107.

Prediction

The bookmakers see this as an even match. We, on the other hand, do not share the same opinion. Atlanta is looking much healthier in terms of morale, and the overall productivity on the court, and the Hawks showed that in numerous situations. We are backing them up to win this event.

If, by any chance, you don’t like this pick, we have a reserve option. The line for the Over/Under number of points here is set at 222.5. With Atlanta’s fantastic attacking potential and their not so tough defense, we have all the needed resources to see lots of points here, definitely above the presented limit.