Dallas Mavericks vs Los Angeles Lakers 10/31/18 NBA Odds, Preview and Prediction

The Dallas Mavericks take the trip to the City of Angels to play the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday, 10/31/18 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

Both teams are coming off losses on Tuesday night. The Mavericks lost to the Spurs 108-113 in overtime while the Lakers were beaten by the Minnesota Timberwolves 120-124. Both teams enter this contest with identical 2-5 records with the Mavericks on a four game losing streak while the Lakers have dropped back to back games.

La Vida Luka

The Dallas Mavericks traded for 18 year old Luka Doncic on Draft night and that has proven to be a brilliant move so far. The Slovenian wonderkid has played like a superstar in his first seven NBA games, averaging a team high 20.4 points per game while adding 6.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists per contest. Doncic is coming off a career night where he scored 31 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in 40 minutes of action. But life with Doncic has been rough so far as Dallas has lost four in a row after winning two of their first three games.

Despite great efforts from the players mentioned, the Mavericks have not been able to find success. All of the Mavericks’ seven games have been decided by less than 10 points, meaning they have been competitive all season long, but Dallas hasn’t gotten the breaks to pull off victories in the end game. The Mavs are a -5.9 points per game versus their opponents on the average, 22nd in the league. The reason behind that is that they are ranked 26th in the league in FG% allowed at 49.2% and they are last in the league is 3P% allowed at 46.9%.

Frustration Is Setting In

After the Lakers’ latest loss, head coach Luke Walton admitted that frustration is setting in. It was the Lakers’ second straight four point loss and the third time this season where they have lost by four points or less. The Lakers have the best player in the planet in LeBron James and they’ve surrounded him both with veterans with experience and young players with potential but still, the wins have been hard to come by. Four games ago, LeBron said chemistry wasn’t an instant oatmeal now he’s saying that nobody wants to be there when his patience runs out.Let’s not talk about LeBron’s stats anymore because we know he’s going to deliver the numbers night in and night out.

For the season, Los Angeles’ opponents are averaging 49.6 rebounds per game, 4th worst allowed in the league. They are also allowing 12.6 offensive rebounds per game which is also ranked 26th in the NBA. Against Minnesota, the Lakers allowed 51 rebounds including 20 offensive boards. Los Angeles also needs to stop fouling as they have given up 27.4 free throws per game which is third worst in the league this season.

Who Wins?

The Lakers lead the all-time series 107-47 but the Mavericks have won seven out of the last 10 meetings between these two teams. Los Angeles though, took three out of the four meetings between these teams last season, including both games played at the Staples Center. Prior to last season, the Mavericks had won 14 straight games versus the Lakers.

The key here for the Lakers is rebounding. They give up too many rebounds, especially on the offensive end which hurts them in close games because those rebounds give their opponents extra opportunities to score. Also, the Lakers love to push the pace and run the breaks but won’t be able to do so if they don’t get the rebounds. Rebounding is going to be a challenge with DeAndre Jordan on the other side.

As for Dallas, they need to play better defense. As we mentioned earlier, they are in the bottom in FG% and 3P% allowed. Luckily for them, the Lakers aren’t a good three point shooting team although you can’t count them out at home. What Dallas has to do though is stop them from running their fastbreaks. Los Angeles is one of the top fast breaking teams in the league this season.

The Mavericks are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 Wednesday games and are 9-22 ATS in their last 31 games against teams with a win percentage below .400. But Dallas is 21-8-1 ATS in their last 30 games as underdog of 5.0 to 10.5 points. The Lakers on the other hand are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games after allowing more than 100 points in their previous game. However, the Lakers are 4-0 ATS in their last four games played on a Wednesday.

The over is 5-1-2 in the Lakers’ last 8 games overall and the over is also 4-1 in the Lakers’ last 5 games on 1 day rest. The over is also 9-3 in the Mavericks’ last 12 games played.