basketball | Monday, December 12, 2022 2:39 PM

Dallas Mavericks vs Oklahoma City Thunder Best Bet: Mavericks Continue Struggling

Milan Stanojic

Dallas Mavericks vs Oklahoma City Thunder Best Bet: Monday, December 12th

The Dallas Mavericks take on the OKC Thunder tonight at American Airlines Center in their second encounter of the season. Last time out, the Thunder came away with a 111-117 win when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went off for 38 points in late October. Will the return of Luka Doncic power the Mavs to end their 2-game losing streak or will we see the Thunder steal both road games in the series?

In this article:

Dallas Mavericks vs Oklahoma City Thunder Preview
Dallas Mavericks vs Oklahoma City Thunder Best Bet

Dallas Mavericks vs Oklahoma City Thunder Preview

Tue, Dec 13th. 01:30 (UK time)

The Dallas Mavericks are in a runt right now, riding a 2-game losing streak and winning 4 of their last 10 games. They are coming off a 144-115 demolition against the Chicago Bulls without Luka Doncic, and are now 10th in the western conference. They are travelling back to United Centre to host the OKC Thunder, a team that already beat them earlier in the season by 117-111. Luka Doncic is listed on the injury report as ‘probably’ tonight after missing last game with a quad injury, along with Maxi Kleber, listed as ‘questionable’.

The Mavericks have been in very poor form recently, and their defence has been the biggest reason behind this. They have allowed an average of 110 points this season, but this number has increased to 121.7 over their last 3 games, and their defensive rating has dropped to 124.1 during that same period. They are the second-slowest team in the NBA and can sometimes struggle to find easy baskets, and although this hasn’t been the case recently, their defence has prevented them from finding much success.

This is my first time covering the Thunder this year after an amazing 2021/22 season that saw them finishing 14th in the west but as the second-best team ATS with a record of 48-3-4. They have been winning a lot more this year, but are still sitting 13th in the conference with 11 wins and 15 losses. They are riding a 3-game losing streak and coming off a 110-102 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

The Thunder have done a much better job scoring the ball this year, now averaging 115.8 points per game whilst ranking 4th in field goals made with 43.3 per game. A big reason for this is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is having a phenomenal season averaging 30.8 points and 5.9 assists per game. That said, the Thunder are still a young team and their defence needs a lot of work, ranking 20th in defensive rating and allowing 117.6 points per game.

Dallas Mavericks vs Oklahoma City Thunder Best Bet

With the Mavs being in such poor form, I was really surprised to see them being such heavy favourites at 1.29 odds and the spread at 8.5 points. Perhaps the bookies are expecting the return of Doncic to immediately get this team back to winning. Yeah, it might happen, but what about defence? This team has been very bad on the defensive end, and this is something that every team can exploit.

The Mavs have covered the spread in just 4 of their 12 games this year, ranking them 3rd-worst in the league, whilst the Thunder have continued covering on the road with a record of 9-6 (5th best in the league). Even backing them to win at 4.00 is a tempting idea, but let’s be realistic, +8.5 points in the handicap market is by far the best bet.