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Lowly Lakers host Mavericks on Tuesday
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 1/26/2016  at  12:39:00 PM
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DALLAS MAVERICKS (25-21)

at LOS ANGELES LAKERS (9-37)

Tip-off: Tuesday, 10:30 p.m. ET
Line: Dallas -7.5

The Lakers will be looking to prevent a seven-game losing streak when they host the Mavericks on Tuesday.

The Mavericks have not been playing well recently and are coming off of a 115-104 loss in Houston on Sunday. Dallas was a four-point underdog in that game and has now lost two straight contests. The team is not playing well defensively and must turn it around, as it will not win games allowing the 112.0 PPG it’s been giving up over the course of the two-game losing streak. Fortunately for the Mavericks, they do face a Lakers team that has lost six straight games and failed to score over 100 points in five of those games. Los Angeles has also been horrible defensively, allowing 113.0 PPG over the course of its six-game losing streak. These two teams have met twice this season and the Mavericks have won-and-covered in each of those meetings. Dallas has been absolutely dominant in this head-to-head series over the year, going 9-0 SU and 7-2 ATS versus Los Angeles over the past three seasons. Another thing favoring the Mavericks heading into this game is the fact that the team is 14-4 ATS after a game where they failed to cover the spread this season. PG Devin Harris (Toe), C Zaza Pachulia (Achilles) and SF Jeremy Evans (Shoulder) are listed as questionable for Dallas in this game and PF Larry Nance Jr. (Knee) is probable for Los Angeles.

Will the Mavericks get back on track with a win over a lousy Lakers team on Tuesday? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the StatFox Experts Best Bets throughout the season. The experts continue to flourish in NBA Best Bets with a stellar 72% ATS mark (18-7) last week and a 59% ATS success rate (86-59-5) over the past six weeks. StatFox Zach was 4-1 ATS last week to bring his six-week total to 70% ATS (21-9) and his season mark up to 59.4% ATS (38-26-1). StatFox Scott has an impressive 63% ATS record (27-16-2) over the past nine weeks to remain a profitable 54% ATS (34-29-2) this season. StatFox Brian is also on fire at 70% ATS (16-7-2) in the past five weeks, while StatFox Dave is 56% ATS (14-11) in the same timeframe. StatFox Gary is coming off a perfect 5-0 ATS week of Best Bets.

The Mavericks have not been playing to their potential recently, but the team has a golden opportunity to get back into the win column against the Lakers on Tuesday. One guy that will need to play well for Dallas in this one is PG Deron Williams (14.2 PPG, 5.6 APG, 3.1 RPG, 1.0 SPG). Williams had his worst game of the season against Houston on Sunday, putting up just four points on 1-for-9 shooting from the field. He will need to get back on track or it will be tough for the Mavericks to get their offense rolling. PF Dirk Nowitzki (17.7 PPG, 6.7 RPG) will also need to step his game up for Dallas in this one. Nowitzki is going to be facing a Lakers team that is not good at defending the power forward position and he should be able to knock down some shots in this one. SG Wes Matthews (12.9 PPG, 1.1 SPG) could be an x-factor in this game. Matthews has scored 12 or more points in five straight games and will need to play some excellent defense in this game. The Lakers are solid at the guard position and Matthews will be counted on to slow some of Los Angeles’ young players down.

Los Angeles has been wildly disappointing this season and the team needs to start winning some games soon. The Lakers don’t need their young, talented players to feel that losing is okay and that is the reason SG Kobe Bryant (15.8 PPG) called out his teammates after a loss to the Blazers on Saturday. Bryant has struggled recently, shooting 34.1% from the floor. He is, however, a competitor and will give it his all on a nightly basis. Bryant wants his teammates to share the same mentality. SG D’Angelo Russell (12.3 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 3.4 APG, 1.2 SPG) is the guy that Bryant really wants to help mold. Russell is extremely talented and is averaging 19.5 PPG over the past two games. Not only is he scoring, but he has done so on 16-for-22 shooting from the field. He does, however, get lackadaisical on defense and needs to show more of a consistent effort moving forward. PF Julius Randle (10.5 PPG, 9.6 RPG) is another young guy that must be more consistent the rest of the way. Randle is averaging 9.4 PPG and 10.4 RPG over the past five contests, but he is shooting just 38.5% from the field and has been awful on defense. Randle needs to play solid on the defensive end against Dirk Nowitzki on Tuesday or the team has no chance to win this one. He’ll also need to show that he can defend at a high level the rest of the season or the Lakers might just have to wonder whether or not he can be an effective piece for them in the future.


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