Game Time: 8:00 PM ET, Thursday, February 17th, 2022 

Venue:  Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana

Where to Watch:  NBA League Pass

DraftKings:  Spread:  Dallas -3

BetMGM:  Spread:  NL

VegasInsider:  Spread:  Dallas -3; O/U 217

WynnBet: Spread:  NL

Mavericks: 34-24, 5th place Western Conference

Pelicans: 23-35, 11th place Western Conference

A Western Conference battle between two teams that have slowly risen in the standings.  Albeit to different levels.  The Dallas Mavericks pulled off a big trade by sending Kristaps Porzingis to the Washington Wizards.  They gained a couple of players and will no longer be hamstrung by Porzingis’s health reports.  All the things they needed to really turn the team over to PG Luka Doncic and say “it’s your decade kid, go be the next Lebron”.  And Luka can be the next LeBron… he leads his team in every important category… points, assists, and rebounds.  He still has new levels to reach… he just needs a perfectly complementary team around him. Also, insiders made it clear that Kristaps bristled at all the usage Luka was getting…. And Luka was mystified that Kristaps didn’t just want to get on his coattails and rack up the wins.  Sure the Mavs only got 50-70% return on Kristaps… but sometimes in Sports you really do get addition by subtraction.  The New Orleans Pelicans just got franchise killing news… PF Zion Williamson may need ANOTHER surgery.  They will know after the next round of scans… but Zion is on the sort of career trajectory that Greg Oden was on for the Portland Trail Blazers over a decade ago.  #1 pick… keeps missing entire seasons… gets healthy enough for a big exploratory payday… Then is forced to call it a career.  The Pelicans should feel as if everything they have done over the last 3 seasons will never make a difference.  It was all done (some of it very badly) to make room for a winning roster that featured Zion as their star.  The Pelicans just pulled a trigger on trading for Portland Trail Blazers star SFG CJ McCollum who is an amazing shooter and scorer… and makes loads of $$$.  CJ’s shooting on this roster is supposed to support Zion in his return in time for a playoff push!  That won’t happen.  It doesn’t mean the Pelicans are bad…McCollum, Ingram, and Valanciunas are a real good start to a winning team… but with PG Kira Lewis Jr out for the season… and PF Zion Williamson out maybe forever… They will still need lots more if they want to build a real winner.

The Dallas Mavericks have won 7 of their last ten games.  Last game they beat the Eastern Conference leader the Miami Heat 107-99.  PG Luka Doncic does it all at 27 ppg, 9, rpg, and 9 apg… but he isn’t in the MVP talks. Why no Luka?... Not enough Mavericks’ wins.  The Mavericks are 7-3 ATS over their last ten games.

The New Orleans Pelicans have won 5 of their last ten games.  While just .500 it still is a nice run for a team so far below .500 to begin with.  They are also 6-4 ATS.  They should not be expected to win many games as they are terrible shooters… and exactly average on defense.  A combination like that usually does the opposite of picking up wins.

Will Rogers was a ROCK SOLID 4-1 Tuesday here in the neighborhood as he continued to absolutely ROLL! Since December 1st, his picks have made an EYE-POPPING $30,620 overall! This includes an EXCEPTIONAL 29-11 NBA run as he's pretty much DOMINATED pro hoops this season from the jump! That continues with Spurs-Thunder, a BIG 10* play! Get on it! Go get it! Get Will Rogers’ picks right now at the Shop Picks page, where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers. NCAAF, NFL, MLB, college football… get positive value from all your bets! Expert picks!  Fun fact… winning a wager is much better than making a wager!

The Mavericks are 34-24 on the season, but 31-27 ATS.  They have logged 19 Overs, 38 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 14-13 in road games.

The Pelicans are 23-35 on the season, but 28-29-1 ATS.  They have notched 22 Overs, 34 Unders, and 2 Push.  They are 13-16 in home games.

The Mavericks rank 24th in scoring with 106.3 ppg, 25th in rebounds with 43.7 per game, and 7th in AST/TO ratio with 1.9.  They are shooting 19th in FG%, 24th in 3PT%, and 16th in FT%.  Defense is an absolute strength for the Mavs, they rank 2nd while only allowing 103.0 ppg from opponents.

The Pelicans rank 26th in scoring with 106.1 ppg, 10th in rebounds with 45 per game, and 16th in AST/TO ratio with 1.7.  They are horrible shooters (so far, McCollum will increase these numbers) they rank 25th ini FG%, 27th in 3PT%, and 7th in FT%.  They are 15th on defense while allowing 109.3 ppg.   

Our prediction for Thursday, February 17th is….  Mavericks 119 - Pelicans 104

The Mavericks should be able to walk all over the Pelicans.  DeVonte Graham and CJ McCollum are not exactly the defensive wall you want in front of Luka Doncic.  

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Dallas is 7-3 ATS versus New Orleans the last 3 seasons.

26 of 43 games in this series have gone OVER the last 3 seasons.
Dallas is 61-39 ATS on the road last 3 seasons.

Mavs: SG Reggie Bullock (hip) Quest ** SG Tim Hardaway JR (foot) Out ** PG Trey Burke (shoulder) Quest ** PF Marquise Chriss (knee) Quest

Pelicans: SF Larry Nance Jr (knee) Out ** PG Kira Lewis Jr (knee) Out for season ** PF Zion Williamson (foot) Out indefinitely

Mavs: PF Josh Green, SF Dorian Finney-Smith, C Dwight Powell, SG Jalen Brunson, PG Luka Doncic

Pelicans: PF Herbert Jones, SF Brandon Ingram, C Jonas Valanciujnas, SG CJ McCollum, PG Devonte Graham 

Mavs

Points: Luka Doncic 27

Assists: Luka Doncic 9

Rebounds: Luka Doncic 9

Steals: Dorian Finney-Smith 1.2

Blocks: Kristaps Porzingis 1.7

Pelicans

Points: CJ McCollum 26

Assists: CJ McCollum 5.5

Rebounds: Jonas Valanciunas 11.4

Steals: Herbert Jones 1.5

Blocks: Jonas Valanciunas 0.9

Mavs: Jason Kidd

Pelicans: Willie Green