Cleveland Cavaliers vs Dallas Mavericks Prediction & Betting Tips - NBA

Prediction published on 27/02/2024, 02:55  by Joseph King | Modified on 27/02/2024 at 11:00 in NBA Prediction

An inter conference matchup is in store for MLS fans on Tuesday when the Cleveland Cavaliers  host the Dallas Mavericks. The Cavs are sitting second in the East with a 37-19 record while the Mavericks are 8th in the West with a 33-24 mark. Cleveland comes into this matchup off the back of a 114-105 away win over the Washington Wizards, putting an end to their two-game losing streak. The Cavs shot 50% from the field in the victory and limited the Wizards to 30% from deep on 40 attempts. Cleveland has one of the league’s best defenses, limiting opponents to 45% from the field overall on the year (fourth in the NBA) and holding teams to just 109.2 points (second in the NBA). They’ll need to be at their best here as they come up against one of the league’s premier scoring threats in MVP candidate Luka Doncic.

The Mavericks come into this contest after seeing their lengthy seven-game winning streak finally come to an end against the Pacers 133-111. The Mavs struggled to contain the excellent team basketball played by Indiana who racked up 38 assists in the game compared to the Mavs 15. Despite the defeat, Dallas can feel good about their recent play as their winning streak has them sitting just a half game behind the fifth-placed Phoenix Suns and three games ahead of the ninth-place LA Lakers. Luka Doncic is still nursing a broken nose but will suit up for this one. The Slovenian superstar is averaging career-highs in points per game (34.3), assists (9.5), three-point percentage (38%) and free-throw percentage (77.9%). The result is his Mavericks team ranking sixth in the NBA in adjusted offensive rating and averaging the seventh-most points in the NBA at 118.6.