NBA Weekend Preview: Lakers-Mavs Kick Off Exciting Slate

By Ziv Chen  | 

Mar 17th, 2023 01:23 PM  |  3 mins

 | 

 Fact Checked by Mark Fordham

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The NBA is heating up, and we’ll be glued to our NBA betting sites this weekend following the action! Three days of basketball action begins with a matchup between two teams who made big gambles at the trade deadline and are looking to see if the risks will pay off.

Then, there’s an interconference battle on Sunday night as the Golden State Warriors face a Ja Morant-less Memphis Grizzlies. Finally, the Denver Nuggets are looking to avenge their defeat against the Brooklyn Nets last weekend, regaining some momentum in the process. Check out our NBA picks for the weekend below.

Dallas Mavericks @ Los Angeles Lakers

Two teams who swung at the NBA trade deadline meet at the Crypto.com Arena on Friday night as the Dallas Mavericks travel to face off against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers brought in Mo Bamba, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley and D’Angelo Russell before the February 9 deadline, while the Mavericks traded for Kyrie Irving to complement Luka Doncic ahead of a push for a championship this season.

Los Angeles has the upper hand between the two sides since the flurry of front office activity and is 9-5 since it updated its roster. Conversely, Dallas is 5-9 since the arrival of Irving and is looking to score a significant victory, which could see it rise out of the play-in places.

Both teams will be short-handed for the game, with Los Angeles missing NBA record points scorer LeBron James and Anthony Davis, while Doncic will also miss the matchup. With both sides undermanned, it will be up to players like Jaden Hardy and Josh Green to pick up the slack for Dallas, while LA will need a big performance from Austin Reaves, its leading points scorer in the loss against the Houston Rockets during the week.

Both teams need a victory to ensure their place in the standings and make the playoffs. NBA betting apps have priced Los Angeles at -145 to reach the postseason and Dallas at -360. After an eventful season for the Lakers, who have struggled to find the perfect combination, a win against the Mavericks could show that they are peaking at the right time.

Golden State Warriors @ Memphis Grizzlies

The Golden State Warriors face an interesting inter-conference matchup on Sunday night as they travel to Tennessee to face the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Golden State lost its previous game, 134-126, against divisional rivals the Los Angeles Clippers and will travel to Atlanta before its clash in Bluff City.

Memphis will travel to San Antonio on Saturday night before hosting Golden State but lost its last game against the Miami Heat on Wednesday, 138-119. The Grizzlies will be without Ja Morant, with the 2019 second overall pick still suspended by the league. Losing Morant shouldn’t worry Memphis, as the team beat the Warriors without Morant last Friday, 131-110.

Golden State has only won two of its last six games and is sixth in the Western Conference. With two franchises, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas, sitting just a game behind Golden State. A win is crucial to the Warriors to help avoid dropping into the play-in places.

Steph Curry’s return has prompted some excellent Warriors performances, and he has led the scoring in six of their last seven games. Curry scored 50 in the loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night and has averaged 34.2 points in March. 

USA sports betting sites see the two sides as outsiders for June’s NBA Finals. The odds for the Warriors to win the championship are +1300, while the Grizzlies are +2200.

Denver Nuggets @ Brooklyn Nets

The Western Conference leaders meet sixth place in the Eastern Conference on Sunday night at the Barclays Center as the Denver Nuggets face off against the Brooklyn Nets. When the teams met last weekend, Brooklyn was victorious and will be looking for back-to-back wins against Denver to stay in the hunt for home-court advantage in the playoffs.

Denver snapped its four-game losing streak during the week, beating the lowly Detroit Pistons 119-100, but it has suffered a prolonged rough patch. It is just 5-5 in the last 10 games, and after leading the Western Conference comfortably for a large portion of the season, it now has the Sacramento Kings just 4.5 games behind first place. Some sportsbooks have started to fade their chances of success.

Beating the Nets would see the Nuggets regain momentum. However, they are 2-5 against Atlantic Division opponents and 17-17 on the road.

Brooklyn hasn’t dropped down the standings in the fashion many expected after losing two star-players - Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving - at the trade deadline. Despite back-to-back losses against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Sacramento, Brooklyn has recovered from losing its stars thanks to some excellent performances from Mikal Bridges and Nic Claxton. Claxton is an outsider with US betting apps to win the Defensive Player of the Year, priced at +16000.

Bridges has led the team in scoring in five of its last six games and has averaged 26.1 points per game since he was acquired by Brooklyn as part of the Kevin Durant trade. Claxton has been pivotal in defense, with 6.8 defensive rebounds and 2.5 blocks a game this season. The Nets will hope both can deliver in this challenge from the Nuggets.