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In a battle between the City of Angels and D-Town, the Los Angeles Lakers will meet up with the Dallas Mavericks for some summer fun out west. Join us for our NBA odds series, where our Lakers-Mavericks prediction and pick will be revealed for all basketball fans and bettors to see.
Los Angeles is fresh off a 102-94 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday. The win yesterday pushes the Lakers to 2-2 in Summer League play with a chance to improve their seeding for the tournament coming shortly.
The Mavericks have used their time in the sun to get a good look at some young prospects, and even though they are winless at 0-4, they surely have to be impressed by some names that have raised some eyebrows. In their most recent contest coming against the Bucks, Dallas fell short by a score of 89-100.
Here are the Lakers-Mavericks Summer League odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
NBA Odds: Lakers-Mavericks Odds
Los Angeles Lakers: -1.5 (-118)
Dallas Mavericks: +1.5 (-104)
Over: 171.5 (-110)
Under: 171.5 (-110)
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Why The Lakers Could Cover the Spread
In an impressive showing by the Lakers on Friday in their win, Los Angeles will be tasked with the challenge of only coming off one day's rest ahead of today's matchup with Dallas. With this serving as the final Summer League game before the tournament is set to take place, LA would most definitely like to conclude things on the right note. The Friday night lights happened to be very kind to Lakers forward Cole Swider. Playing his college ball at Villanova and Syracuse, Swiner was a two-way player within the Lakers organization the past couple of years and proved on Friday that he may be ready to take that next step of his game.
When the final buzzer sounded, Swider had a team-high 21 points with six rebounds on 53% shooting from the field. Not to mention, Swider could not miss from three-point territory, as the 6'9″ power forward was 5-11 from beyond the arc.
Another name that stood out was the heady play from guard Scotty Pippen Jr. The son of Michael Jordan's partner in crime back in the Bulls' heyday put on the best impersonation of his pops with an all-around tremendous showing. With a team-high +11 in the plus/minus department, Pippen Jr. ended up with 11 points to go along with seven assists, three rebounds, and three steals.
In conclusion, the Lakers ended up besting the Pelicans by shooting a whopping 47% from long-range and dished out 24 assists throughout the night. A repeat of this type of efficiency would give the Lakers very high odds to cover the spread in two consecutive nights.
Why The Mavericks Could Cover the Spread
The Mavs' 0-4 record by no means signifies a lack of talent and skill when they have suited up for action this summer. In fact, regardless of the wins and losses which don't matter much in this league, Dallas has had several standout performances from guys eager to make an impression on an organization. Even more, this makes the chances of Dallas management taking a flyer on one of these names to provide depth or even play some meaningful minutes during the regular season all the more likely.
After losing by double-digits versus Milwaukee, Dallas still has to feel pleased with how their troops fought and even rallied. No player impressed the most than power forward Moses Wright. The former All-Conference First-Teamer at Georgia Tech could not be stopped. Leading the way for Dallas, Wright dropped 26 points on 10/16 shooting in 24 minutes before he fouled out in the closing stages of the game. Although he was not drafted coming out of college, the former collegiate stud has the potential to be a contributor whether that's on the Mavericks roster or elsewhere.
In order to finally get the monkey off their backs and finally find themselves in the win column, Dallas will need to play with urgency on both sides of the court while capitalizing on their trips to the charity stripe. By driving to the hole with an aggressive mindset, getting to the free-throw line should be a top priority ahead of this matchup. Making your free throws is a different story, as the Mavs only shot 66.7% from the line in the loss to the Bucks.
Final Lakers-Mavericks Prediction & Pick
There's nothing quite like the wild, wild, west. While this specific game is a far cry from a middle-of-March meeting with stars galore and major playoff implications in the fold, this is still a meaningful game for both sides. With the spread set almost evenly at 1.5, this is the time for the Mavericks to come out of their shells. Expect Dallas to play with a higher intensity from what we have seen from them up to this point which should result in them covering the spread against their Western Conference foe.
Final Lakers-Mavericks Prediction & Pick: Mavericks +1.5 (-104)
