Will the former champions take the lead against the Lakers?
With the regular season nearing its end, the Dallas Mavericks face off against the LA Lakers, and Wettbasis is sharing a tip. The starting positions of the two franchises heading into this matchup in Texas are very different.
The hosts no longer have a chance of making the playoffs, and the Mavericks’ goal is instead focused on securing one of the last three spots in the West. The reason is that this would improve Dallas’s chances in the upcoming draft.
The visitors, for their part, have already secured a postseason spot as the third seed, but they’d like to defend that position to avoid potentially facing the top-seeded team and champions from Oklahoma in the second round of the playoffs.
However, the roster situation on the West Coast isn’t looking good right now. In their recent decisive loss to OKC, Luka Doncic—the NBA’s leading scorer this season—was injured, and other key players like Austin Reaves are also sidelined. This puts the onus squarely on veteran star LeBron James.
Against this backdrop, we’re predicting that the 41-year-old will score more than 24.5 points in the matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and the LA Lakers. Additionally, due to the personnel issues plaguing Coach JJ Reddick’s visiting team, we expect them to score a maximum of 117 points.
Dallas Mavericks – LA Lakers Head-to-Head Record
Dallas and Los Angeles have faced off twice already this year, and the 2011 champions have lost both times. Due to those two losses, the visitors now have three straight wins in this matchup.
For the upcoming Dallas Mavericks vs. LA Lakers matchup, bookmakers’ odds also place the visitors as the favorites.
Dallas Mavericks – LA Lakers Prediction
With nearly 34 points per game, Luka Doncic leads the NBA scoring race this season, but the Slovenian will be missing against Dallas. Due to an injury sustained in the last game against OKC, the 27-year-old will have to sit out.
In our view, however, this doesn’t change much regarding the visitors’ status as favorites, as Dallas has been successfully “tanking” for weeks to place as low as possible in the Western Conference standings. A strategy that emerged after missing the playoffs and which at least increases their chances in the upcoming draft.
The Lakers are therefore unlikely to face much resistance, and given the roster situation, the main burden will once again fall on the still-strong shoulders of LeBron James. Although the four-time MVP, at 41 years old, may be playing his final season in the NBA, his performances remain very consistent.
Furthermore, no other player in the NBA has more experience than LBJ. He will therefore likely handle the additional workload in the game with ease. In light of this, the betting odds for the Dallas Mavericks vs. LA Lakers game suggest more than 24.5 points from the legendary forward!
