Mavs @ Clippers - Best Bet, Best Prop and a +646 Parlay
The Dallas Mavericks visit the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night and while we won’t get to see Luka Doncic take on Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and company, we will get to see the Dallas debut of Kyrie Irving, who will be wearing No. 2 for the Mavs.
The Mavericks are eight-point road dogs tonight but let’s not forget that they got their first win of the season without Luka at Utah on Monday night, as Josh Green and Jaden Hardy (career-high 29 points each), Tim Hardaway Jr. (17 points), Reggie Bullock (13) and Dwight Powell (12 points, career-high 16 rebounds) all kind of went nuts for Dallas to give them their first win of the season with Luka, taking a 2-1 lead in the series against the Jazz.
And just because Luka and Kyrie didn’t play, it wasn’t lost on Green as to what the win meant. “Luka (and Irving) are going to have their amazing nights, but if we want to be a championship team it’s about the rest of us being able to step up,” he said. That’s a quality quote from a young up-and-coming player and it’s obvious that Luka’s teammates have grown weary of hearing about how they can’t do anything without him.
Now we’ve got the debut of Irving coming against a Clippers team that has looked both great and awful this season, but that has also gone 8-2 in their last 10 games and looks like a title contender again. Meanwhile, Irving says he felt disrespected in Brooklyn and wants to be somewhere where he’ll be “celebrated instead of tolerated.” The best way to get that party started would be by having a great opening performance tonight and giving the Clippers a battle they’ll remember come playoff time. It’s also worth keeping in mind that these two teams really don’t like each other, although Luka in street clothes should take a lot of edge off tonight. Irving is technically listed as questionable but there is almost no chance he sits out tonight.
In any case, it would make sense for Irving to do what Luka does tonight - score a bunch of points, pass the ball to his teammates and keep his team in the game until the end. And that’s what we think will happen. And the absence of Luka means the rest of the guys who balled out on Monday are going to have to play well again tonight.
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The Clippers’ injury report is pretty clean heading into this one and they’ll be led, as usual, by Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Leonard led the way with 35 point in Satuday’s OT win at New York and Paul George dropped a team-high 29 in Sunday’s win at Brooklyn. Ivica Zubac had 19 points and 12 rebounds against the Nets, Terance Mann and Nicolas Batum each flirted with double-doubles and Norman Powell scored 14 points off the bench. Marcus Morris, who will at least see his brother Markieff tonight after he was traded to the Mavs, had just two points in 17 minutes against Brooklyn after being ejected in his second game back from a rib injury. He should be more of a factor tonight, assuming he doesn’t get tossed again.
Eight points is a lot to give up against a team of unknowns with a superstar who has been in Dallas for one day. Irving has a chip on his shoulder, the Mavs not named Luka have a chip on their collective shoulders, and this game will be played on national television to give us our first glimpse of Kyrie wearing No. 2 in green and blue. And while it’s not likely to draw as much attention or be as fun to watch as LeBron James’ record-breaking night was on Tuesday, it should still be a lot of fun.
Pick: Mavericks +8
Best Prop
Mann has scored 12 points in two straight games and the Mavericks defense, now that Dorian Finney-Smith is gone, is going to close to awful. It won’t take Mann much to get going tonight and the odds are solid without asking him to do too much.
Pick: Terance Mann Over 10 points +155
Same Game +646 Parlay at FanDuel
Leg 1: Mavericks +8
Leg 2: Kyrie Irving to score 25+ points
Leg 3: Kyrie Irving to record 6+ assists
Leg 4: Kawhi Leonard to score 25+ points
