Portland Trail Blazers
After a day off, the Portland Trail Blazers fly to Dallas to take on the local Mavericks. The Trail Blazers had a tough time against the Kings in their last game, which they won 122-112. Damian Lillard was unstoppable, scoring 35 points and shooting 60% from the field. Moreover, several of those shots were "off the logo", which shows that Lilard's form has been at a high level since the beginning of the season. Hasan Whiteside, former Miami Heat forward who joined the team in the off-season, also had a good game. He grabbed 9 rebounds and scored 22 points, shooting 90% from the field.
The Trail Blazers, who lost their season opener against the Denver Nuggets at home for the first time in 18 years, now have 1 win and 1 loss. Damian Lillard is averaging 33.5 points and is the team's undisputed leader. Portland is averaging 111 points per game played, but they are not shining defensively, allowing a very similar 110 points per game.
Pau Gasol and Jusuf Nurkic are still out for Portland.
Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks also had a one-day break between games. The Texans won 123-116 on the road against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night. Luka Doncic, last year's top NBA rookie, recorded a triple-double with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Doncic hit 10 of 19 shots and played over 37 minutes. Latvian Kristaps Porzingis, who missed all of last season due to injury, is also in good shape and looks really solid, contributing 24 points and 5 blocked shots in the win over the Pelicans. Backup point guard Delon Wright also impressed, coming off the bench to score 20 points and grab 7 rebounds.
The Mavericks currently have 2 wins against the Wizards and Pelicans and have yet to suffer a loss. Doncic is in MVP-worthy form at the start of the season, shooting nearly 58% from the field and averaging 29.5 points in 2 games. Undoubtedly, one of the best duos in the league with Porzingis will be hard to stop this season, and Porzingis is already showing that it won't take him long to recover from his injury - the Latvian is scoring 23.5 points.
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Overall, Dallas has been one of the highest scoring teams in the first few games, averaging 115.5 points per game, while the Mavericks have also missed a lot, 108, but at least for now, this style of play is working.
History between teams
Field advantage is a key factor in the history of these teams. The home team has won the last 5 meetings. 3 out of 5 times it was the Mavericks, and 2 times it was the Trail Blazers. All 5 meetings have also been successful, with the lowest score being 203 points and the highest being 244.
Injured players
The Dallas Mavericks will be without Dwight Powell and Ryan Broekhoff tonight;
Pau Gasol and Jusuf Nurkic will not play for the Trail Blazers tonight.
Forecast
It will be a very interesting game and we will see 4 potential All-Star candidates Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis, Damian Lillard and C.J McCollum. All of them can play spectacularly on a good day and a lot will depend on which team's stars are more solid. Interestingly, Portland has added two strong middles this off-season in Rodney Hood and Hassan Whiteside, who are solid defensively, but can also play on their own if needed.
Currently, the lines are 220 points over/under and -2.5 for the Mavericks with 1.9 odds. The lines are basically logical, but given how important home court advantage is in these meetings and how good the Mavericks are early in the season, it's hard not to expect them to win. C.J McCollum hasn't had a good game so far and Lillard's one might not be enough to get the win in this road game. The game is likely to be a high-scoring affair, with the Mavericks celebrating a home win by more than 2 points.
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