Mavericks vs Suns

A trip to the Western Conference finals is on the line for the Dallas Mavs against the Phoenix Suns.

“Their fans get into the game and they’re into the game for the whole 48 minutes. The Mavs have a chance to thanks to the brilliance of Doncic, the historic playoff run that Jalen Brunson is on and rugged team defense. The Suns beat the New Orleans Pelicans in six games. ... This isn't Gobert or Whiteside. These guys can put the ball in the basket.'' Superstars Devin Booker and Luka Doncic each missed three games in the first round, but both returned to help lead their teams to series wins. The Mavs face the defending Western Conference champion Suns, who produced the NBA’s best regular season record of 64-18.

Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic has a lot of respect for Phoenix Suns' Mikal Bridges, but is ready for the matchup.

With how the Mavericks like to use perimeter players as screeners to draw switches, the whole Suns' defense will be put to task, whether making the switch or in show and recover. Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson found ways to attack, but the whole Mavericks' offense including Spencer Dinwiddie was clearly uncomfortable attacking deep on a drive. Brunson has struggled at times against long defenders and perhaps Bridges could attempt to neutralize him by taking on that assignment. Given how important Doncic is to the Mavericks' offense, it is difficult to envision Bridges not guarding him primarily at some point. “But I think he’s smart on the defensive end. The NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award went to Marcus Smart this season, but Phoenix Suns' Mikal Bridges would have been a well-deserving recipient had he won it.

Luka Doncic has been money in the playoffs. Will he makes us some more money as he travels to Phoenix for Game 1.

NY, AZ, CO, CT, IA, IL, IN, MI, NJ, PA, TN, VA, WV only. NY, AZ, CO, CT, IA, IL, IN, MI, NJ, PA, TN, VA, WV only. +630 implies that he does it once in this series, which has shown to be mostly untrue. Must be 21+. AZ, CO, IA, IL, IN, LA, MI, NJ, NY, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY only. Moreover, he has three or more in five of his last six games. For player prop bets, any ‘3-pointers made’ bets are worthy ones, especially for players like Reggie Bullock, Doncic and even Dorian Finney-Smith 21+. New customers only. Conversely, the Suns do not take nearly as many 3-pointers. This is up drastically from their prior 52 games in which they averaged 12.3 three-pointers made, just 14th in the league. 21+. New customers only. Let’s start with this: In his career, Doncic has only been eliminated from playoff contention by Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers. Both of those playoff series were incredibly close and even last year’s series went seven games. New customers only.

Luka Doncic led the way for the Mavericks, falling just short of a triple-double with 45 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. He either scored or assisted on ...

I thought the Mavs were about to force a turnover on Booker near the baseline. Even acknowledging that Doncic got a bunch of points toward the end of the game in a failed comeback attempt, it's probably not a great sign that he nearly put up a 40-point triple-double and the Mavericks were easily outplayed. But nope, it's a foul, and Booker wants a review because Dinwiddie hit him in the eye He finished with 45 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists on 15 of 30 from the field in over 44 minutes, recording his sixth career 40-point game in the playoffs. A calf strain kept Luka Doncic out of the first three games of the postseason, and even now he does not seem to be at 100 percent. He either scored or assisted on 23 of the Mavericks' 37 made field goals (62.1 percent) while has on the floor. It took over four minutes for Deandre Ayton to get his first basket -- an and-one layup off a feed from Devin Booker in the pick-and-roll -- but once he got on the board he could not be stopped. There were a few stretches where the Mavericks got red-hot from 3-point land and Luka Doncic started going off, but none of it mattered because the Suns got whatever they wanted on the offensive end. Luka Doncic led the way for the Mavericks, falling just short of a triple-double with 45 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. This was a classic Suns performance: 50.5 percent from the field; 39.3 percent from 3-point land; no one over 25 points but seven different players with at least nine; just nine turnovers as a team. Deandre Ayton was terrific against the Mavericks' small frontcourt, finishing with 25 points and eight rebounds on 12 of 19 from the field, while Devin Booker went for 23 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Just 14 seconds into the game, Chris Paul hit a mid-range jumper to give the Suns a lead they would never surrender.

It's time to continue our NBA odds series with a Mavericks-Suns prediction and pick for Monday's Game 1 and the series.

The Suns will win and cover, and they will then go on to win a hard-fought series in seven games. However, the Suns are the best team in the NBA for a reason and will show the Mavs how good they are with a full squad. The Suns were the top team in field goal percentage during the regular season and eighth in rebounds. In addition to that, Phoenix must stop Doncic and force other players to beat them. The Suns went 3-0 against the Mavericks in the regular season. The Mavs must put up buckets and win the battle on the boards. Finney-Smith will take on the task of guarding Booker and will have to be on him at every turn. Dallas will cover if it can clamp down on Booker and Paul and prevent them from torching them. The Mavericks defeated the Utah Jazz 98-96 in Game 6 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals to win the series in six games. Booker suffered a strained right hamstring in Game 2 and missed three games. He broke the record for most shots converted without a miss in an NBA playoff game. The Mavs won the series despite Doncic not playing for the first half of the series.