Dallas Mavericks vs. Los Angeles Lakers Preview and Prediction (3/17/23)
Moneyline: Lakers -205, Mavericks +175
Spread: Lakers -5, Mavericks +5
Total: 224.5
Dallas Mavericks vs. Los Angeles Lakers Betting Odds Breakdown
Dallas will be taking a trip out to Los Angeles for a matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Los Angeles is coming into this game as the favorite at -5, and the over/under is sitting at 224.5 points. Along with that, the moneyline is sitting at -205 for LA and +175 for Dallas.
Dallas Mavericks Preview
The Dallas Mavericks are sitting at 35-35 on the season, and that has them at eighth in a very competitive western conference.
The last time the Mavericks and Lakers met up for a game was back in late February, which had the Mavericks falling to the Lakers by the score of 111-108. And for Dallas in that game, the biggest problem was that they just were not able to close out the game well. After being ahead of the Lakers by as many as 27 points at one time in the game, they still were not able to hold on in this one. And it wouldn’t be surprising if this game is much more difficult for them, because Luka Doncic will be missing his fourth game in a row with a thigh strain. And on top of that, Kyrie Irving is also questionable with a foot injury.
Something that Dallas did very well in their last game was defend the three point line. They usually defend the three point shot pretty well, with them only letting their opponents shoot about 35 percent from beyond the arc. But in this one, they were able to hold the Lakers to only 6/34 from three, which is 17.1%. If they can do something like that again, it is very possible that they can get the win in this one. But at the end of the day, the biggest thing they can do in this one is execute down the stretch, because that ended up costing them the game the last time they met up with LA.
Los Angeles Lakers Preview
The Lakers are also sitting at 35-35 on the season, and they are on a hot streak right now that they will look to keep going against Dallas.
The Lakers have been playing some great basketball lately, which has gotten them with a record of 7-3 in their last 10 games. For most of this season, the Lakers have been struggling, but it looks like they will be making one final push for a playoff spot. But what is unlucky for them right now is that they are now dealing with some injuries to their star players while they are getting ready for the most important games of their year so far. LeBron James will be out in this game with a right foot injury, and Anthony Davis is also injured with foot problems. However, Davis is still listed as probable for this game. Either way, these injuries couldn’t have come at a worse time for them, so we’ll see if they are able to push through it.
Like said above, the Lakers were absolutely terrible from three point range in their last game against the Mavericks, and that needs to change. It’s also a big reason why the Lakers ended up going down by 27 points in that game. The Lakers aren’t a great three point shooting team anyways, as they are only shooting about 34% from three this season, but only shooting 17% from long distance is unacceptable. But either way, they should be able to do much better from three point range in this one. Every team has some off nights, so we’ll see if they can make some changes from that performance.
