Saturday marks the start of the NBA playoffs and the Dallas Mavericks and the Utah Jazz will have the honor of starting off the action.
The Mavs are set to be without Luka Doncic and thus bookmaker BetOnline has them as five-point underdogs for the contest with the odds at -107. The odds are at -113 for Utah to beat the spread. The total stands at 209.5 points with the odds for both the over and the under at -110.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: April 15th, 3:00 P.M. (EST)
Doncic suffered a calf strain in the final regular-season game against San Antonio and he’s been ruled out indefinitely. It’s a massive blow for the Mavericks who committed fully to building around Doncic this season by trading away Kristaps Porzingis.
Dallas went 20-7 after trading Porzingis to Washington on Feb. 10 and their run of results included two wins in three meetings against Utah. The Jazz trended in the opposite direction during the latter half of the regular season and they struggled mightily in the match-up against the Mavericks, but Doncic’s injury is set to change everything.
Seeing your fellow pro ball players going down with injuries isn’t a pleasant sight, but Doncic’s absence should provide a boost to Utah players who will be desperate to make a good start in the playoffs after slumping through the final couple of months of the regular season.
The Jazz managed to win just four of their last 11 games and the poor run dropped them to the fifth seed in the Western Conference, which might prove to be costly.
Utah’s defense has taken a massive step back during the spring and there’s drama brewing inside the locker room. Donovan Mitchell incredibly averaged just two passes per game to fellow star Rudy Gobert over the course of the season and it looks like there is a divorce coming up even if the Jazz somehow manage to get their hands on the Larry O’Brien Trophy in June.
It’s also interesting to note that despite not playing through Gobert, Mitchell set a new career record by averaging 5.3 assists per game this season. He’s been one of the best scorers in the league in recent years but has now rounded out his game with some good play-making ability.
Mitchell is expected to be Utah’s main threat on Saturday although he struggled in the match-up during the regular season and shot just 40.3 percent from the field. The three-time All-Star missed the regular-season finale with an illness and it remains to be seen if he can return to the court in top form.
