Can the Dallas Mavericks Take Control of the Series?
The LA Clippers and Dallas Mavericks meet again in what promises to be a competitive Game 5 to determine who takes the lead in this Western Conference series. Luka Doncic shocked the Clippers this past Sunday with a game-winning shot in overtime to even the series at two.
Expect the Clippers to come out with a statement game and prove why they are one of the favorites to win the championship this year.
TIME: 9:00 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN; BETTING LINE: CLIPPERS -6.5 / TOTAL 236 *
The Clippers, who have been favored throughout the season to win the NBA Championship, ended up with the 2nd position in the West. Which by result, sent them against one of the tougher 7th seeds in recent years, thanks primarily to Luka Doncic. We expect the Clippers to pull through this series only if they are able to improve in some areas of their game play.
The first thing the Clippers need is improved play by Paul George. We have grown to love “Playoff P” in the past, but recently, George has been playing like a “Playoff L”, if you catch our drift. In his first 4 playoff games so far, George is shooting 29% from the field (22% 3P, 36% 2P), 15.3 points per game, and 2.3 turnovers per game. He normally averages around the mid-’20s in points so we expect him to produce more for his team.
The other improvement we expect from the Clippers is their defensive assignments on Luka Doncic. The game-winning shot from Luka came against Bobby Jackson, who is 6’3, compared to Luka’s 6’7 size. The real head-scratcher here was the fact that neither Kawhi nor Goerge were close to guarding him for a potential stop against the European stud. We expect Kawhi to make the difference in that department tonight.
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The Dallas Mavericks needs another legendary performance from Doncic to keep it going
The Dallas Mavericks, on the other hand, are led by the 2nd year player Luka Doncic, who is enjoying his first playoff appearance. The interesting thing is, he is 21 years old and is playing with all the confidence in the world, leading the league in triple-doubles and performing at an extremely high level. His game-winning shot on Sunday topped off a 43 point, 17 rebounds, and 13 assist night, which is something we are getting accustomed to seeing in the boxscore.
Luka Doncic’s all-star European duo, Kristaps Porzingis, is nursing a sore right knee and is listed as doubtful as of right now, so we’ll need to see if he’ll be in tonight’s lineup. This should prove to be extremely important, as Dallas is going to need his support as the Clippers might come in full attack mode when defending Luka tonight. Even though Kirstaps didn’t play in Game 4, the Mavs had solid support from Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr who had 25 and 21 points respectively, who came back from a 20 point deficit early in the 2nd quarter.
Our betting recommendations for the game is to place your money on the Clippers at -6.5. If you are looking to make a 2-team parlay then we’d say the Clippers and the under 236 are your best bet. The reason for choosing the team from L.A. is because we are confident they’ll adjust and make the necessary improvements in this game. If Porzignis ends up not playing then its a wrap and you can basically call it a guaranteed Clipper win.
The Dart Throw: Clippers 120 – Mavericks 108
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