3% Take Dallas to WIN the SERIES (#665)

There’s no comparison between these two teams in recent weeks.  LA has an injured superstar in Kawhi Leonard, who’s been sitting on the sidelines in streetclothes since the calendar turned to April.  He’s expected to play here, but we all know that when a high usage star returns to the lineup, teams often look out of sync on both ends of the court for extended stretches in his first game back.  James Harden looks ancient of late.  He shot 40% from the floor in March and 32% so far in April.    That’s a duo who needs to be elite for LA to survive and advance in this series; right now, I’m not convinced either one is capable of performing at that level.  And let’s be real – unless the Clips have a hidden ‘switch’ to flip, we can only expect what we’ve seen for the last three months – a largely mediocre basketball team.

Real quietly, waaaaay under the radar, the Dallas Mavericks defensive efficiency was #1 in the NBA over their last 15 games.  Unlike the Clippers superstars, the Mavs star duo of Luke and Kyrie are both fully healthy. And unlike LA, Dallas has been clicking on all cylinders since the trading deadline, when the acquisition of PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford (and Dante Exum’s return from injury) completely transformed their potential trajectory; a team with nothing but upside moving forward here in the postseason.  Take the Mavericks to win the Series

Line Parameter (prior to Game 1): 3% at -140 or lower, 2% at -141 or higher