Will The Thunder Start To Regress?
Don't Look Away From The Mavericks vs Thunder Betting Trends
The Dallas Mavericks have been highly streaky throughout the season. The good news is that they’re in the right direction. The Mavericks will be playing in the second game of a back-to-back after earning a 109-99 win over the Golden State Warriors last night. Unfortunately, the Mavericks won’t have Luka Doncic available for tonight’s game after a left hamstring injury.
Dallas will look to keep up the momentum with another road game against the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight. While the Thunder are one of the best NBA teams in the West, they’re still coming off a loss to the Pacers at home, 121-111 last time out.
That said, the Thunder are currently at -10.5, with the total at 236.5. The Over is juiced to -115.
Take a look at the Mavericks vs Thunder betting preview for this late-night TNT showdown.
Dallas Mavericks vs Oklahoma City Thunder 
Location: Paycorn Center
Day/Time:
Streaming: TNT
Mavericks vs Thunder Betting Trends
The Mavericks have won more games than lost against the spread this season. However, they’ve been pretty even between Overs and Unders this year.
On the other hand, the Thunder have gone 39-26 against the spread and have hit the Over 36 of the 65 games this season.
Oklahoma City is 26-7 at home, where it’ll be against the Mavericks for this game.
Luka Doncic Named Western Conference Player Of The Week
On Monday, the NBA announced that Luka Doncic was named the Western Conference Player of the Week. It’s the third time he’s won the award this season and the 12th time overall that he’s won the award.
That week, Doncic averaged nearly 38 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 10.7 assists. He was a triple-double machine for Dallas and has helped them return to their winning ways since.
Doncic is still in the NBA MVP race. However, the Mavericks will need to add a few more wins consecutively before he can really start to campaign for the MVP this season.
Are The Thunder Frauds?
The Oklahoma City Thunder are currently among the bottom three in offensive and defensive rebound rates.
To have the success they’ve had this season, the Thunder would need to continue shooting their highly effective field goal percentage and keep turnovers down, like they’ve done this year.
The last time a team won a championship when the rebounding was this bad was in 2019 when the Raptors won the title. But even then, the Raptors were 22nd in offensive rebounding rate and 18th on the defensive glass.
Those numbers aren’t nearly as bad as Oklahoma City’s.
It’s unlikely the Thunder will win a championship this year, but they’ve got a ton of young talent who will be with the team for years to come. For now, they’ll address their needs in the offseason, gain experience playing big games, and grow as a unit.
The Thunder’s Improvements
We just discussed how bad the Thunder have been on the glass this season. However, over the last four games, the Thunder have limited opponents to no more than 21.1% of offensive rebounds in any of those games.
The defensive rebounding has improved over the last couple of weeks. However, the Thunder will still not earn many offensive rebounds and typically don’t get to the foul line enough to make an impact.
Again, the Thunder have done well keeping turnovers down and have shot a highly effective field goal percentage throughout the season. Once these numbers dip, it could be trouble for the Thunder. However, at this time, the Thunder aren’t really slowing down offensively, as historical data would suggest. Despite the loss to Indiana on Tuesday, they’re still going strong and playing consistent basketball.
On the other hand, the Mavericks have done very well offensively over the last ten games. But without Doncic on offense, that will probably change.
Like the Thunder, Dallas has kept the turnovers down. Ultimately, Dallas will find a way to get to the foul line more. But the Mavericks don’t earn many second-chance points either. With Oklahoma City’s improvements on the defensive glass, don’t expect the Mavericks to do any better against the Thunder here.
The Mavericks won’t earn many turnovers themselves. While Dallas has allowed many offensive rebounds, the Thunder are weak in that regard anyway.
However, the Thunder should still get better looks from the field, as they’ve shot an effective field goal percentage of 57.8% throughout the season. Dallas ranks in the bottom portion of the league in terms of effective defensive field goal percentage.
We don’t expect the Thunder to be the NBA Finals winner this season. But our pro basketball predictions still have the Thunder edging out the Mavericks in tonight’s West Coast matchup. Of all the NBA games today, you won’t want to miss this one.
After reviewing the Mavericks vs Thunder betting preview, I back the Thunder at -10.5. Without Doncic, on a second game of a back-to-back, and on the road, there’s no way we’re backing the Mavericks.
For NBA predictions today, betting odds, analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
