NBA Odds, Picks, Predictions
As the NBA Playoffs continue, the intensity is increasing and that's especially true for the Golden State Warriors in their Western Conference battle with the Dallas Mavericks. The Warriors dominated in Game 1 with a 25-point win that featured contributions from their entire team. Will the Mavericks respond in Game 2?
Our NBA analysts have a pair of bets for Friday's matchup. You can find their breakdowns and picks below.
Mavs vs. Warriors Spread
Raheem Palmer: The Warriors were in championship form in their Game 1 win over the Mavericks on Wednesday night. A big part of that was their blistering pace. They ran off both makes and misses, generating a whopping 1.32 points per possession after a Mavericks made field goal.
The Mavericks could have trouble adjusting to the Warriors speed at the start of this series. Still, it feels like we haven’t seen the Warriors' best performance as they shot 10-of-29 (34.5%) from behind the arc with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson putting up 21 and 15 points respectively.
The Warriors are turnover prone, but they’ve been dominant on the offensive glass, generating a 21.2% offensive rebound rate. With the Mavericks' lack of bigs, the Warriors are not only generating second chance points but they’re scoring at will from 2-point range when they get run off the 3-point line.
While I do think the Mavericks have a real shot at winning this series, it won’t come here in Game 2 at Chase Center where the Warriors are 7-0 straight and 5-2 against the spread in the postseason winning by an average of 10.5 points per game.
I’ll back the Warriors to take a commanding 2-0 lead and lay the 6.5 points in a game where they should dominate before hitting the road for Game 3 in Dallas.
Mavs vs. Warriors Prop
Joe Dellera: All-Star Andrew Wiggins is going to play significant minutes once again in Game 2 and he should continue his success against the Mavericks.
On the season, Wiggins has played very well against Dallas. Across five games he is averaging 32.9 minutes per game while scoring 17 points on 45.9% shooting with a 23% Usage Rate, which is up slightly of his regular season number of 21%. He can stretch the floor with his 3-point shooting, but the key role for Wiggins is his usage as a cutter.
Against the undersized Mavericks, the interior is soft and Wiggins’ size and athleticism allows him to get into the belly of this defense and attack the rim off of timely passes from Draymond Green.
His current prop line is set at 15.5 points, which he has cleared this in eight of his 12 postseason games and four of five games against the Mavericks with the one miss at 14 points.
I’ll back Wiggins to score enough in Game 2.
