Nets vs Mavericks Preview: Back Home Team to Cover

The Brooklyn Nets travel to Dallas on Monday night for their second and final matchup of the season with the Mavericks. These two teams first met on October 27, with the Mavs winning 129-125 in overtime. Brooklyn comes into Monday’s matchup having won their last two games against the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets. Both of those wins have come without their All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving who is serving a minimum of a five-game suspension from the team. Check out the future NBA matchups.

The Mavericks are also coming into the contest on a three-game win streak of their own, beating the Orlando Magic, Utah Jazz, and Toronto Raptors. The Nets vs. Mavericks preview is in favor of the home team who enters the game as a 6.5-point favorite. The total sits at 217.

Brooklyn Needs Scoring Help

We start our Nets vs Mavericks preview by looking at Brooklyn’s NBA teams stats. While they’ve won their last two games, the Nets have struggled to score without Irving in the game. He’s averaged 26.9 points per game, so without him, the Nets are averaging 112.2 points per game which ranks 18th in the NBA.

Brooklyn is also missing TJ Warren who has yet to play a game for the Nets this season and Ben Simmons who has missed the last few games with left knee inflammation. In the previous matchup between these two teams, Irving put up 39 points and added seven rebounds, so it’s no surprise that the team’s overall scoring output has gone down since his absence.

While Kevin Durant leads the way in scoring for the Nets, Nic Claxton is now the team’s second-leading scorer with 12.6 points per game. This may have been enough against both the Wizards and Hornets, but against a team like the Mavericks who have multiple scoring threats themselves, we don’t think the Nets are going to have what it takes to keep up with Dallas offensively.

Dallas’ Defense Makes Life Difficult

Dallas’ defense has also been a bright spot for them this season. They’re allowing opponents to score 109.1 points per game, which is good for eighth best in the NBA standings 2022. Christian Wood, who Dallas acquired this offseason – has been a great addition to the Mavs frontcourt.

The center is coming off the bench and dominating the second unit for Dallas. His presence inside will make life extremely difficult for Claxton and the Nets down low. Our Nets vs Mavericks preview also like Dallas in this one because while Claxton will challenge Brooklyn’s post players, the Mavs perimeter defense will put pressure on Durant and the Nets shooters. Dallas is allowing their opponent to shoot just 33.2% from deep, which ranks seventh best in the league.

It also comes as no surprise, but Luka Dončić has been outstanding for the Mavs through the early start of the season. When these two teams met towards the end of October, Doncic led the way for the Mavs with a 41-point triple-double that included 14 assists and 11 rebounds. The Nets had no response for Doncic in that game and it’s hard to imagine that’ll change much on Monday night, especially with Simmons sidelined for this game.

All in all, our Nets vs Mavericks preview recommends laying the points with the home team and relying on Dallas’s defense to shut down the Nets scoring opportunities on Monday night.

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