Thursday night provided the NBA fans with some incredible playoff action as the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers were both eliminated in six games. Now, only one first-round series remains. The Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks are scheduled to play Game 6 of their series tonight at 9:00 p.m. EST. The Mavericks currently lead the series 3-2 and will be trying to send the Clippers packing.
BetOnline has, once again, released odds for tonight’s game. Will the Mavericks win and punch in their ticket for a second-round date with the Utah Jazz? Or will the Clippers pull through and force a Game 7?
NBA Odds: Los Angeles Clippers (No. 4) vs Dallas Mavericks (No. 5) Game 6
Odds via BetOnline as of Friday, June 4
- Series: DAL leads the series 3-2
- Time: 9:00 p.m. EST
- Moneyline: Clippers (-145) vs Mavericks (+125)
- Point Spread: Clippers -2.5 (-10), Mavericks +2.5 (-110)
- Total: 216.5 — Over (-110), Under (-100)
Los Angeles Favored to Win Game 6
At -145 odds, the Los Angeles Clippers are favored to win tonight’s Game 6. However, if they want the victory, they’re certainly going to have to try a lot harder than they did in Game 5. One thing that led to the 105-100 loss was that Los Angeles had 12 turnovers on the night compared to Dallas’ 8. A team can’t cough up the ball that much and expect things to work out in the end.
Another reason the Clippers lost Game 5 is because of Kawhi Leonard’s poor performance. He’s supposed to be his team’s best player, however, he ended the night with just 20 points and a plus/minus rating of -8 — not the type of numbers you want to see from a two-time NBA Finals MVP. Even Leonard’s last-minute 3-pointer attempt drew the ire of his teammates and the fanbase.
However, one of the biggest reasons as to why the Clippers are down in the series is because they’re getting beaten at their own game: 3-pointers. In the regular season, Los Angeles led the NBA with a 3-point percentage of 41.1%. That number has dropped to 36.6% in the postseason, while the Mavericks are shooting at 42.3% from beyond the arc. If the Clippers want to make it back into the series, they’re going to need to start nailing their 3-pointers.
Can the Mavericks Pull Off the “Upset” Win?
Even though they have the 3-2 series advantage against the Clippers, the Mavericks enter tonight’s game as the slight +125 underdogs at home. The fact is that the series has been pretty even for the most part, so it’s not like Dallas has no chance of winning. To advance to Round 2, the Mavericks are going to need Luka Doncic to keep on playing as he has. The two-time All-Star is averaging 35.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 9.4 assists per game on the series. Considering how he had 42 points in the Game 5 victory, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him have another massive performance. However, he’ll need some help.
Kristaps Porzingis is only averaging 13.8 points on the series — down from the 20.1 he averaged in the regular season. It’s not even like he’s shooting the ball bad, as indicated by his .472/.368/.800 shooting splits. It’s that Porzingis has only taken 53 shots in the series, which ranks third on the team behind Doncic (142) and Tim Hardaway Jr. (68). That’s just not the type of production you want from a $158 million player. Hopefully, Porzingis shows up for Game 6 to lend Doncic as they try to put an end to the Clippers’ 2020-21 NBA postseason run.
