Dallas Mavericks vs. Portland Trailblazers 12/4/18: Starting Lineups, Matchup Breakdown, Odds, Daily Fantasy, Betting

Mavericks vs. Trail Blazers Matchup Preview

While the Portland Trail Blazers (13-10) may sit atop the Dallas Mavericks (11-10) in the Western Conference standings, these are teams that seem to be heading in separate directions than the standings currently dictate.

While the Mavericks stumbled out of the gate, they have been one of the league’s hottest teams of late, going 8-2 in their last ten games. The Blazers, however, have lost their last two and are 3-7 in their last ten.

This will be the first of four meeting between the teams, with the Blazers taking last year’s season series two games to one.

The Mavericks, without the services of rookie Luka Doncic, who was out with a knee injury, the Mavericks beat another hot team in the Los Angeles Clippers in their most recent game on Sunday. Harrison Barnes made up for the loss of Doncic by finishing with 30 points and nine rebounds.

Portland dropped their most recent game in their Texas road trip to the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, but Damian Lillard did his best to keep Portland in it with 37 points and 10 assists.

While Dallas gets a majority of their points from their forwards, Barnes and Doncic, the matchup to watch will be seeing if Dallas’ guard combo of Dennis Smith Jr. and Wesley Matthews can limit Portland’s Lillard and C.J. McCollum.

TV Schedule

Date: 12/4/18
Time: 8:30pm ET
Arena: American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX
Channel: Fox Sports Southwest, NBC Sports Northwest

Dallas Mavericks Starting Lineup

PositionStarter
PGJalen Brunson
SGLuka Doncic
SFTim Hardaway Jr.
PFDorian Finney-Smith
CMaxi Kleber

Mavericks Analysis

dallas mavericksThe Mavs are 9-2 at American Airlines Center this season and that should play in their favor for tonight’s game. While this figures can often be misleading, what isn’t is that the Mavs average 10 more points at home and shoot at a higher clip.

While all five Mavericks starters average double figures, it’s a safe bet to give credit to some of the team’s recent success over the last 10-game span to Luka Doncic. He isn’t your typical rookie. His basketball IQ is off the charts. He makes reads and gets passes into the right hands in the right position at lightning-fast speeds. Aside from his ability to fill up the stat sheet with his scoring and rebounding, his ball-handling abilities have helped take some pressure off Smith Jr. and has helped the Mavs offense flow.

The addition of DeAndre Jordan has also paid dividends. He’s been a monster on the boards, even to the detriment of his own teammates sometimes, and his improved free-throw shooting and blocks have given the Mavs a true rim protector.

Mavs Quick Links: Mavs Starting Lineup, Mavs Roster, Mavs Depth Chart, Mavs Injuries, Mavs News, Mavs Schedule

Portland Trail Blazers Starting Lineup

PositionStarter
PGDamian Lillard
SGCJ McCollum
SFMaurice Harkless
PFAl-Farouq Aminu
CJusuf Nurkic

Blazers Analysis

portland trail blazersThe Portland Trail Blazers are looking to pull themselves out of a two-game skid and a rut that has seen them drop several games lately.

Portland can score, with Lillard and McCollum averaging over 21 points per game, but their issues seem to be on defense. They allowed a season-high to DeMar DeRozan last game as he and LaMarcus Aldridge combined for 65 points. More specifically, the Blazers are having troubles defending the three-point shot.

Aside from that, they lean heavily on their main duo, and while Jusuf Nurkic provides some support, averaging a double-double per game, they’ll need some help from their bench, who have only averaged 26 points in their last five.

That could prove too big of a challenge, especially if Evan Turner remains out of the lineup.

Blazers Quick Links: Blazers Starting LineupBlazers Roster, Blazers Depth Chart, Blazers InjuriesBlazers NewsBlazers Schedule

Mavs vs. Blazers Betting Odds

The Dallas Mavericks are a -1.5 favorite to win this game and extend their home win streak to eight games. The Mavericks are 53-60 at home, covering the spread 49.6 percent of the time, while the Blazers are 50-68 on the road, covering the spread 39.8 percent of the time.

The moneyline opened at -125 for the Mavericks with no line movement. The Blazers opened at +105.

Odds & Line Movement Links: Dallas Mavericks vs. Portland Trail Blazers, Vegas Odds (All NBA Games Today)

DraftKings & FanDuel Fantasy Picks

Value Picks: DeAndre Jordan has had some big games recently and his work on the boards could easily be enough to push that category over the edge in your favor. He had 23 rebounds in his last game against the Clippers.

At a salary of $7,500 and a projection of 37.39 points on FanDuel, and $7,300 with a projection of 37.68, he provides great value.

For Portland, it’s hard to pick anyone other than Lillard here. He’s exploded for several 40+ games this season and had 37 against the Spurs. He may come with a hefty price tag, $9,900 on FanDuel and $9,800 on DraftKings, but he has certainly delivered. He’s expected to do the same tonight with projections of 46.49 points and 48.24 points.

Find all of our Fanduel and Draftkings projections here: https://www.lineups.com/nba/nba-fantasy-basketball-projections

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Michael is Chief Editor at Lineups.com. He has decades of combined experience in traditional print journalism and online media and is the publisher of the Project Spurs Network, which includes 13 team-specific sports media sites and the flagship ProjectSpurs.com. He is also the creator of the first Spurs podcast and the longest-running sports podcast on the internet, the Spurscast, and was formerly the host of the News 4 San Antonio Sports Roundtable.

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