It’s win or go home for the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday as the team travels to Dallas to take on the Mavericks at 8 p.m.
Dallas took a 3-2 series lead by posting a 104-92 victory in Game 5. The Mavericks abused the Thunder’s defense, scorching the nets by hitting 53 percent of their field goals and knocking down 40 percent of their three-point attempts.
Oklahoma City struggled in its last outing, shooting a meager 25 percent from behind the line and hitting just 42.5 percent from the floor. The Thunder allowed the smaller Mavericks to outrebound them 46-33 to keep their scoring in check.
With so much riding on the game, which players should bettors expect to rise up and make the plays in Saturday’s do-or-die matchup for the Thunder? We’ll cover that with our top three player prop bets as well as cover our best bet for this Western Conference semifinal matchup.
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The Dallas Mavericks rode superstar Luka Doncic to the victory Wednesday as the 6-foot-7 guard recorded 31 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds in his team’s victory. Doncic’s 31-point effort was his first game over 30 points this series.
Although he led the league in scoring at 33.9 points per game this season, Doncic has relied on his teammates throughout the series to provide points.
He’s averaging 8.4 assists per game this series as well as 10.6 rebounds per night. With his efforts focused on guiding his teammates, look for points to keep Doncic from completing this player combo prop bet.
Oklahoma City shot a pitful 10-of-40 from behind the arc in Game 5, the second time in this series the Thunder shot less than 26 percent from long range. After opening the series at 46 percent, Oklahoma City has progressively shot worse from the three-point line ever since.
Thunder guard Lugentz Dort mirrors that trajectory. The 6-foot-4 athlete knocked down 52 percent in the team’s series against New Orleans, but since has managed just 32 percent from behind the line.
With the series on the line, expect Dort to hit at least three 3-point field goals Saturday to cover this player prop bet.
Defense has been the key to Dallas’ victories thus far. The Mavericks are holding the Thunder to below 104 points per game, progressively reducing Oklahoma City’s points each contest.
In the regular season, the Thunder averaged 120.1 points per game. Part of that defensive effort has been Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving’s defense.
After swiping two passes in back-to-back games at the beginning of the series, Irving has only collected two steals over the next three contests. Expect Irving to pick up the pace Saturday and record two more steals for Dallas to cover this player prop bet.
This is a tough game to bet. Oklahoma City has all the incentives to come out and wallop Dallas to even the series and play the decisive Game 7 at home. That’s why this is the best bet for Saturday’s contest.
I could see this game going either way. If Doncic gets hot early, the Mavericks can pull off a second straight upset and return to the Western Conference finals.
The over/under score target – despite what trends suggest would be best to take as under 207.5 points – I feel will be easily eclipsed on Saturday with the final score above 110 points for both teams.