Southwest division rivals Mavericks and Pelicans will meet for the first time this year in an attempt to break a losing streak and lift themselves a bit from the bottom of the conference. Who can find the shooting rhythm? Who can find team chemistry? Can the players have fun? All these questions will need answers on Friday evening in Dallas.
Pelicans at Mavericks
Spread: New Orleans -4.5 (-110) at BetDSI Sportsbook
Total: over/under 213 points (-110)
Cousins and Davis dominate again, but Pelicans still lose
The New Orleans Pelicans suffered the second consecutive home loss on Wednesday when they played a close game with visiting Minnesota Timberwolves. The outcome was all familiar. Marred by inconsistency, lack of support for the Cousins-Davis duo, and by turnovers, the Pelicans fell behind midway of the third, pushed back hard to get into the game again, but ultimately lost 98-102.
Playing uphill most of the way can mean two things. Glass half-full: the Pelicans wouldn’t quit and battled back from a double-digit deficit. Glass half-empty: they dug the hole in the first place. DeMarcus Cousins bounced back from an off game with a very active 41 minutes. He was all over the place, taking the bad along with the good. He had a game-high 35 points, including five made three-pointers. But it was his other stats that tell you about how active he was. He had 9 boards, 6 assists, 6 steals and 3 blocks! He does, however, continue to struggle with turnovers, logging eight this game. Anthony Davis was good as well, although he took back seat to Cousins in this one. Davis scored 24 points to with 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Other than the New Orleans big men, there isn’t much to write about. Holiday logged 38 minutes and has a nice line of 14-5-6, but missed all of his five three-point attempts. Cunningham, Moore and the most of the bench guys weren’t even at the game. Veteran Tony Allen, with all his offensive and physical limitations, shows most flame when playing, and that speaks for itself. Defensively, it’s the same old matador D. Holiday come very late out of any pick and roll, forcing the defense to scramble, but the defensive rotations aren’t set well, and the Pelicans effort to protect their rim usually ends within seconds of the first pass. They allowed Minny to shoot 60.5 percent in the 1st half, although it would be fair to say that anything Wolves players would throw up would go through the net, including half court shots or difficult fadeaways. The Wolves did it without their prized big man, Towns, who lost the battle with Pelicans towering tandem and was kept scoreless until the fourth quarter, picking up 4 fouls and sitting the most of the game.
Up next, four-game road trip, but one that includes some winnable games, as the Pelicans will visit Dallas, Chicago, Indiana and finish the tour in Canada.
Place: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Date/Time: Friday, November 3rd, 2017. 8:30 PM ET
TV Coverage: FSSW, FSNO
The Mavericks no match for the Clippers
The Dallas Mavericks change the starting lineup again, reverting to a variant with Nowitzki on center, but it played out as the previous one. On Wednesday night, the Mavericks surprisingly went small against the L.A. Clippers, starting Harris, Smith, Barnes, Matthews, and Dirk, and quickly fell behind to an insurmountable deficit. The second half was a walk in the park as the Clippers cruised to a 119-98 victory.
Rookie Dennis Smith led the Mavs in scoring with 18 but was far from their best player. The game hasn’t slowed down for him yet, so he’s rushing the decision and shots, looking too mechanical out there. He took 15 shots, a team high, and also had 6 turnovers and 2 assists. Other starters were much more efficient and held their ground for the better part of their court minutes. The bench was awful. Barea and Ferrell forced things and shot just 4-of-21, making a big part of why Dallas shot only 39 percent for the game. Without Noel to play the anchor, the Mavericks also got outrebounded, outscored in the paint and couldn’t stop dribble penetration. With only one win to show for after nine games, Cuban should think about blowing this apart. Losing is fine, it’s part of the sport, but these Mavericks have absolutely no cohesion and the non-stop tinkering with the lineup sent to the court hasn’t helped the matter.
Not sure if that’s good news in these circumstances, but the Mavericks might get Finney-Smith back after the reserve sat out the previous two games with an injury. The Mavs are rumored to be thinking about pursuing Jahlil Okafor should go on the waivers. While that’s probably not true, it does show that Dallas front office is thinking about bolstering the weak interior.
New Orleans Pelicans at Dallas Mavericks Game Trends & Prediction
New Orleans is 4-4 against the spread, but have failed to cover in either of the last two games. It’s a perfect split too, as they are 2-2 ATS both at home and away from it, and the same scheme is followed when it comes to the over/under market. After two unders, the Pelicans are now 4-4 against the total line (2-2 home and away).
Not only the Mavericks have only a single win, but they’ve also failed to meet expectations of the odds setters. Twice have they managed to stay close enough to win against the spread, and seven times they lost the money of their backers, including the last three. The last three games have also played out in overs, despite Dallas failing to reach triple digits in the last two. They are simply giving up too many points. For the season, Mavericks’ O/U record is 5-3-1.
Admi-Rank: We have a tie in this game – both teams are rated with the same score of 70, and are trending down. The reason for Dallas probably unexpected high ranking compared to their record is that they had a tough schedule thus far. The Pelicans could probably rise, but they need to extend playing basketball beyond their two stars. AS of now, neither team seems to have any shot at the playoffs.
After having to deal with Jordan and Griffin, 40-year old Dirk Nowitzki gets a day to recover and then plays against Cousins and Davis. If there’s a good time to this retirement, then this is it. Unfortunately for the Pelicans, if they would be guaranteed to win any time their frontcourt outmatches the opposition, they’d be much better than the 3-5 they’ve mustered so far. With no perimeter shooting threats on the wings, they could find themselves in trouble if Matthews, Barnes and other Mavericks guards find their range. The Pelicans rank in the bottom third in practically every defensive statistical category, so it’s not like it can’t happen.
The books are banking on the away team, awarding them 4.5-point of disadvantage, and that’s too much. Yes, Dallas lost at home to the Sixers, but the Pelicans aren’t good enough to be favored by this much. Go with the home dog, even if you are unhappy with who they are. The total is set at 213 points, mostly to push you away from the overs. There’s a slight value on the other side, but I’m not going to double up on this game, as two bad teams are only worth risking a single stake.
My Pick: Dallas +4.5 (-110)
Total: pass
