NBA Playoffs Series Odds & Schedule: Clippers Price Drops After Game 1 Loss vs. Mavericks

Clippers vs. Mavericks Series Odds

No. 4 Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers have fared quite well in Year 2 of the Kawhi Leonard-Paul George partnership. Both missed their fair share of games but provided great two-way production.

George, specifically, has looked more comfortable this season: His scoring numbers rose but more importantly, he finished in the top three on the Clippers in assists per game. George focusing on making plays for others has led to the Clippers easily possessing one of the most efficient offenses in the league — No. 3 in Offensive Rating (116.7).

Outside of Leonard and George having their usual diet of rest nights, the Clippers’ biggest injury concern is big man Serge Ibaka. He has been a solid rim protector and 3-point shooter but has missed 32 games this season.

Ibaka’s presence will help Lue when he needs to pivot to small-ball lineups that offer more floor spacing. The Clippers will need Ibaka as close to 100% as he can be for potential series with the toughest big men in the West (i.e. Rudy Gobert, Nikola Jokic, Anthony Davis).

For the season, the Clippers were decent Against The Spread (ATS) on the road but great ATS at home. This bodes well for the Clippers’ postseason matchups, as they a tough matchup against the Dallas Mavericks in the first round.

No. 5 Dallas Mavericks

The second season of the Luka Doncic-Kristaps Porzingis pairing was pretty similar to the first, albeit with less spectacular results. The Mavericks easily had the best offense in the league last season, but that didn't quite carry over early on for Dallas.

Doncic did his part this season, posting a career-high effective field goal percentage despite once again taking on a massive offensive workload. With Doncic continuing to fire on all cylinders, it was expected that Kristaps Porzingis would finally have a superstar-caliber season. That didn’t exactly happen.

Again battling through nagging injuries, Porzingis played less than a full season but posted a solid scoring average (20.1 points per game) while shooting 37.6% from the 3-point line.

Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jalen Brunson have been the players to take their games up another level this season. Brunson specifically, has been very impressive in posting career-best marks in PPG (12.6) and 3-point percentage (40.5%).

Those guys will be key in this rematch from last season's playoffs where Doncic was great but eventually overmatched against the Clippers' star power.

Mavericks vs. Clippers Game 2 Odds

Game 1:Mavericks 113, Clippers 103
Game 3: Friday, May 28 | 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
Game 4: Sunday, May 30 | 9:30 p.m. ET on TNT
Game 5: If Nec.
Game 6: If Nec.
Game 7: If Nec.