Dallas at LA Clippers Pro Basketball Betting Preview

The Dallas Mavericks are having their worst season in a couple of decades and can only play spoiler at this point as they visit the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night. The Clips are still battling for the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference. They will be sizable NBA betting favorites.

Dallas at LA Clippers Pro Basketball Betting Preview

When: Wednesday, April 5, 9:30 PM ET Where: Staples Center, LA TV: ESPN Stream: NBA.tv Radio: Dallas / Los Angeles NBA Odds: TBA

Why Bet On Dallas?

This will be the second of a back-to- back as Dallas was in Sacramento on Tuesday. The Mavs entered that off a 109-105 upset win in Milwaukee on Sunday to end a four-game skid. Harrison Barnes scored 15 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter. Barnes made 10 free throws, a 3-pointer and a fade-away jumper in the decisive fourth quarter. The Mavericks made a season-high 19 consecutive free throws, including 15 straight down the stretch, and finished the game 19 for 20. Starting guard Seth Curry aggravated his injured left shoulder Friday night at Memphis. Coach Rick Carlisle is hopeful that Curry, who continues receiving treatment, could play this week. Dirk Nowitzki left Sunday’s game in the fourth quarter due to “mild pain” in his Achilles, finishing with 17 points, five rebounds and one block in 26 minutes. Nowitzki stayed on the bench but Dallas is going to be super cautious now that they’re out of playoff contention. The Mavs will reportedly rest some veterans during back-to- back sets, according to beat writer Earl K. Sneed, and Nowitzki is a prime suspect. Thus it’s hard to know if Nowitzki will play here. He missed 22 games during the first two months of the season because of his Achilles. “It hasn’t bothered me since I came back,” Nowitzki said of his Achilles flaring up on him during Sunday’s game. “Out of nowhere, at the end of the second quarter, it started to get a little tight on me and I played the third quarter and wanted to finish the game but they made the decision to sit this one out.” Carlisle said his team isn’t going to be tanking games even though the playoffs are out of reach. “Guys have continued to play hard, play together the entire time,” Carlisle said. “Look, just because we were officially out of the playoffs as of [Saturday] night, we were pretty much out of it a while ago. But we’re going to keep playing. That’s the kind of guys we have.” The Mavericks lead the 2016-17 season series with the Clippers, 2-1 (Dallas has won each of the last two meetings by two points). Prior to taking the most recent two meetings, the Mavericks had dropped three straight and 12 of the previous 16 regular-season showdowns with the Clippers. The Clippers had also won seven of the previous eight regular-season matchups in Los Angeles prior to the Mavericks’ 90- 88 victory at the Staples Center on 12/23/16. Barnes is averaging 22.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.0 assist, 1.3 steals and 35.7 minutes in three starts against the Clippers this season. In the Mavericks’ 90-88 victory at L.A., Barnes hit the game-winning shot with 3.7 seconds left.

Why Bet On LA Clippers?

The Clips will be well rested as they have been off since winning a third straight Saturday, 115-104 over the Lakers. Blake Griffin scored 36 points, Chris Paul added 29 and J.J. Redick had 19 for the Clippers, who moved within a game of the idle Jazz for the No. 4 playoff seed in the West. Griffin and Paul combined to score the Clippers’ final seven points. The duo notched its third straight game with at least 26 points apiece. Griffin also reached 10,000 points for his career, becoming the first player in franchise history to reach that milestone in a Clippers jersey. The Clippers held on to beat the Lakers, allowing them to side-step the criticism that comes with blowing a 22-point lead against a lottery team. It was, however, the fourth straight game a Clippers opponent rallied from a large hole to either call into question the outcome or, in the case of Sacramento on March 26, win. While the Clippers outscored the Lakers by more than 20 points with the starters on the floor, in the plus-minus, each of the Clippers reserves was at least a minus-11. “You can’t win games in the playoffs playing inconsistently,” Griffin said after another impressive outing against the Lakers. “So it is concerning. How much concerning? I’m not really sure. I just know we can’t do this in the playoffs, cause every team that makes the playoffs is a good team and knows how to play, knows how to finish games. So, we have to be better. But, yes, I think we definitely can get there. We have gotten there and we’re capable of playing the right way.” Guard Austin Rivers (hamstring) hinted that there’s a chance he could miss the first round of the playoffs. He’s already been ruled out for the rest of the regular season. “I’m disappointed,” Rivers said. “I was looking forward to this year’s playoffs. The goal was game one of the playoffs, but it’s looking like hopefully mid-first round, early second round. We’ll see. You never know, I might heal faster than I think so.”

Dallas at LA Clippers Betting Preview: LA Clippers

As long as all the key Clippers play, this shouldn’t be close.