Dallas Mavericks managed to strengthen their squad with the addition of Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut, who will play alongside Dirk Nowitzki and Seth Curry. These additions just might pay off, but in the end Harrison Barnes is the main man, who will need to show his worth to the squad. With the Golden State, he has not been shining, as he managed to shot only 28.6& from the field and missed all 10 3s in the playoffs. Nevertheless, Dallas has a great coach in Rick Carlisle, who will utilise Barnes potential. With that, Mavericks can expect to get to playoffs for the 4th time in a row. Mavericks only managed to win 2 matches in the pre-season against Hornets (96:88) and Thunder (114:109). On the other hand they lost last 5 matches.
On the other side of the pitch, Indiana Pacers will begin a new era, with a new coach Nate McMillan. Quite frankly, Pacer boast a strong squad, which just might bring them the 6th appearance in the playoffs in the last 7 seasons. With Paul George, Monta Ellis, Jeff Teague, Myles Turnt and Thaddeus Young they have got a lot of scoring options. Looking at pre-season performance, the Indiana Pacers, they won 3 out of 6 matches played. The pre-season started well with 2 wins over Pelicans (96:113) and Bulls (115:108), followed by “revenge” of the Bulls (121:105). Pacers added another win against Bucks (101:83) and ended the road with 2 defeats; Magic (114:106) and Bucks (111:103).
Verdict & Prediction
Mavericks have not been shining in the pre-season, especially in the match on Saturday against Denver Nuggets (101:75), where they only managed to score 49 points in 3 quarters. I think it’s clear Mavericks will struggle in the upcoming fixture, as Pacers boast a strong offensive line. Mavericks just don’t seem to have the power to keep up with Pacers. The huge turnaround from Barnes would put my prediction around, but quite frankly there is little to no chance of him dramatically improving his shot in the last few days.
Prediction: Indiana Pacers -6
Odds: 2.04 Pinnacle & SBOBET
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