Mavericks Odds: How to bet the Dallas Mavericks second round series against the Thunder

The Mavericks are winners of a playoff series for the first time in two seasons, as they took down the Clippers four games to two. They now play a much easier series in terms of travel as they will head to Oklahoma City on Tuesday for game one of their matchup with the Thunder. Much like their showdown in 2011, the Mavericks have the edge in experience. The Thunder are young, fun, and skilled, but their lack of size and shooting from key players could be the rock that sinks their boat. The Mavericks, on the other hand, need Luka Doncic to figure out his shooting woes and need to find a way to replace Maxi Kleber if they are going to pull out an upset win.

Either way, this will be a competitive and gritty series and should provide for both entertainment and discourse.

Game Lines

Right off the bat, the Mavericks at even money to win the series has fantastic value. Dallas matches up very well with Oklahoma City; they have rim-rolling bigs who can punish Chet Holmgren, they have Kyrie Irving who will be a mismatch for any player on the Thunder, and they have P.J. Washington who plays the role of “mobile and strong power forward”, an archetype that the Thunder have struggled with all year.

This series is going to have a lot of one-possession games. If a team is ever favored by more than three points, take the other team to cover. There will probably be a lot of threes and free throws as well, so the game total overs will be good for anything under 220.

Player Props

Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively are going to dominate player props. Not only do they have a good matchup but they are going to have to play close to half the game each because of the loss of Maxi Kleber. Kyrie Irving also has a big series ahead of him as Oklahoma City’s premier defender Lu Dort will be on Luka Doncic.

For the Thunder, Josh Giddey and Chet Holmgren should get up lots of threes. The Maverick game plan has to be to make them beat them, and the shot that will be open a lot will be a three from either player. Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have difficult matchups against length and size so their unders on points will be good throughout.

Game 1

Odds up to date as of 9:00 PM CST on May 6th from DraftKings

• Mavericks +3.5
• Daniel Gafford over 15.5 points + rebounds (-108)
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander under 28.5 points (-112)
• Kyrie Irving over 24.5 points (-110)
• Over 218 points (-110)

Jason Kidd is 0-4 as the Mavericks’ head coach in game ones. I am not sure if that changes this time around, but it will be a one-possession Mavericks loss or a Dallas win. Kyrie Irving and Daniel Gafford will have big nights and the scoring will be on display for both teams’ role players.