NBA: LA Lakers vs. Dallas Mavericks Preview, Odds, H2H, Predictions

It’s Luka against LeBron in the most interesting matchup this Sunday. The new superstar against the old one, the clash of generations, we might say. For many, Doncic is the only guy who could reach LeBron at some point in his career and a legit successor in this wave of new megastars. LBJ and the Lakers head to Dallas to try to win and move things in a positive direction. Though the Mavs have their own plans, and that would be winning, as they now have Kyrie besides Luka as well.

Preview

LA Lakers (28-32, +152) have back-to-back victories and three wins in the previous four events, which is encouraging, we might say. They were better than the Warriors twice during that stretch, lost to the Trail Blazers, and beat the Pelicans. 

The most recent event LAL played was at home against the Dub Nation, ending 124-111 in favor of the purple and gold. It was the second time in a row for Darvin Ham’s crew to score at least 120 buckets and present one pretty good offensive performance.

Lakers had 58 boards, ten more than the rivals, and made 16 threes in 30 attempts, or 53.3%. Also, the hosts in this one recorded 30 assists. Malik Beasley had a team-high 25 points, and seven more players scored a double-digit number of buckets. James had 13 with nine boards and eight assists, while Austin Reaves ended with 17. Mo Bamba had a double-double of 10 points and 13 boards.

Dallas Mavericks (32-29, -180) finally won, after three losses in a row, two on the road, in Sacramento and Denver, and one at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Their victims were the Spurs, who were defeated at the American Airlines Center, 142-116.

San Antonio isn’t a reliable measure of strength, but a win like this one is always beneficial in so many ways, most importantly for the players’ morale. Among other things, this was the first win for Luka and Kyrie together on the court. 

Doncic scored 28 points and had 10 dimes and seven boards, while Irving added 23 points with six assists, which wasn’t seen that often while playing for the Nets. Tim Hardaway Jr. came off the bench to drop six threes and 22 points in total, while Christian Wood scored 16 and Justin Holiday one fewer. 

Head to Head Games

This will be the third of four meetings between the Lakers and the Mavs this season, and in the previous two, the franchise from Dallas won. The opening was in Texas, 124-115, and the second at the Crypto.com Arena, 119-115.

Prediction

The Mavs are much better overall. Why? They’ve got a new dimension with Kyrie, which isn’t the case with the Lakers, who are still all-in on LeBron. Now we get it that LBJ is one of the greatest ever and arguably among the top 5 most dominant players in the league, though that isn’t good for the team always. LA Lakers aren’t versatile on the offensive side too much, even though the stats from the latest contest say differently. All this and the home-court edge is why we bet on the Mavs to post a victory. 

Pick: Dallas Mavericks win -180

Here is another preview:

Phoenix Suns vs. Milwaukee Bucks