Dallas Mavericks at Golden State Warriors Betting Preview/Prop Picks

The Western Conference Finals are going to Game 5 tonight. Unfortunately for the Dallas Mavericks, this means heading back to the Warriors' home court.

Down 3-1 in the series, the Mavericks took a big step forward with a 119-109 win in Game 4. As they face elimination, Dallas will need to pull out all of the stops tonight. If not, they'll be out of the playoffs.

The Golden State Warriors need to stick to their guns, playing great offense. They fell behind early in Game 4, which proved to be a problem as the game continued.

Tonight, they'll need to find a way to stay in front of Dallas instead of playing from behind. Back at home, the Warriors come into this game as seven-point favorites. Can they cover? Or is the best bet the Mavericks?

Dallas Mavericks: Dallas needs another Game 4 showing

In Game 4, we saw a completely different offense from what we saw in Game 3. The Mavericks came out fast, and everyone contributed.

Sure, Luka Doncic led the scoring with 30 points, but Dorian Finney-Smith went for 23 as well. Reggie Bullock, who had played awful through the series, put up an additional 18. This is the kind of offense the Mavericks need to win today.

Defensively, they did exactly what they needed to do, stop Stephen Curry. Not only that, they prevented anyone else from scoring more than 20 points. This was a milestone for the Mavericks, who seemed overwhelmed in previous games.

Now that they know what they need to do, the Mavericks can implement the game plan in Game 5. The question is, will it work again?

Golden State Warriors: Back at home with a chance to close it

The Warriors find themselves only one game from winning the Western Conference Finals. Since they're at home, they should have a lot of momentum and energy coming into this game.

Even with the most recent loss, the Warriors are favored by quite a few points. The reason for this is that through the series, Golden State has averaged 114 points per game.

Although it might not seem like a lot, it's a sizable difference over the Mavericks 105.75. The Warriors have now seen the best the Mavericks have to offer. You can bet that Head Coach Steve Kerr went back to the drawing board and has a new plan.

We expect the Warriors' offense to come out fast and get an early lead. Once that's established, they'll hold it for a victory.

Dallas Mavericks at Golden State Warriors Betting Pick

The win the Mavericks earned in Game 4 was definitely an impressive one. However, we've seen inconsistencies with their offense the entire season.

They caught the Warriors off guard in their last game, but we don't expect that to happen again. Although seven points are quite a bit to cover, we're comfortable with taking the Warriors -7 tonight. 

We'll also take the under in this game, with the total set at 216. The total has gone under in six of the Mavericks' last nine games. More importantly, we think the Warriors' defense will play a lot better at home in Game 5.

DunkelIndex Free Pick: Golden State Warriors -7, UNDER

Prop Picks

Dallas (-120) UNDER 104.5 Points

Golden State is allowing 105.5 points per game on defense, which ranks No. 3 in the league. That average decreases to 103.0 points per game at home. Scores have gone UNDER in five of the Warriors’ last six games following a SU loss in the previous game.

With Dunkel predicting a Golden State victory by the score of 112-101, take the Mavericks (-120) to finish UNDER their Vegas team total of 104.5 points against the Warriors.

Dorian Finney-Smith (-110) UNDER 11.5 Points

Finney-Smith averaged 11.0 points per game in 80 games during the regular season, which ranked No. 6 on the Mavericks. That average decreased to 8.7 points per game in Dallas losses.

With Dunkel predicting a Golden State win, take Finney-Smith (-110) to finish UNDER his Vegas point total of 11.5 points against the Warriors.

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