The Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks will play the second of two games at the American Airlines Center in Dallas when they meet again on Tuesday night.
They just faced each other on Sunday, when the Nuggets picked up a 112-101 victory. If the season ended today, they would also square off in round one of the playoffs.
Denver (23-15) is currently fourth in the Western Conference; Dallas (22-17) is fifth.
With Nuggets vs. Mavericks starting at 9:30 PM ET on TNT, let’s take a look at the odds and best bets to make.
This is a rare but not unheard of instance of the two teams facing each other on back-to-back occasions in the same city. You can’t have a more recent data point than that!
However, Sunday’s data was somewhat incomplete because Dallas was missing Kyrie Irving, but even without Irving and Luka Doncic, the Mavs were competitive.
In fact, they led by as much as 17 points and had a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter before a short rotation clearly caught up with them down the stretch.
Whereas Doncic remains sidelined for the foreseeable future, Irving will be back in action for the rematch on Tuesday. Prior to dealing with a back injury, Irving was in stellar form.
The former Duke standout is averaging 30.3 points per game over his last four outings while shooting at least 50 percent from the floor in eight of his last 10.
With Klay Thompson also in strong form right now, Irving’s return will give the home team plenty of firepower.
Thompson drained six three-pointers en route to 25 points on Sunday and he is firing at 40.8 percent from downtown during the month of January.
The Nuggets are playing decent basketball at the moment, but there are some minor red flags heading into this one.
They are a modest 11-8 straight up on the road this season and Michael Porter Jr. has been struggling of late.
Porter (18.8 ppg) has scored below his 2024-25 average in four of the last five contests and is 3-for-17 from three-point land in the last two.
With Irving on the floor, Dallas should be able to cover the spread and might even win outright.
Denver has played six consecutive games without exceeding Tuesday’s total of 233 points. Even in an overtime affair with the San Antonio Spurs on January 4 the two teams still failed to get past 233.
In addition to Porter’s struggles, Jamal Murray has been dealing with a bit of a knee injury and is averaging just 16.0 ppg in seven games this month.
Fortunately for the Nuggets, their defense has been stout.
That have limited their last three opponents to 105 points or fewer and in the aforementioned tilt with San Antonio they put the clamps down when it mattered most, holding the Spurs to a mere three points in overtime.
Meanwhile, Dallas has played at the fifth-slowest pace in the NBA over the past three outings (98.5 possessions per game). The Mavs are happy to slow things down without Doncic at their disposal, knowing some firepower is lacking.
All things considered, the under looks like the best bet to make.
There is a lot to like about Irving in this matchup. He is well rested, having not played since January 1. The 32-year-old has also torched Denver so far this season.
He is averaging 31.0 ppg in two contests against them to go along with 58.5 percent shooting from the field and 7-for-14 marksmanship from the land of plenty.
Count on Irving forking up a bunch of shots without Doncic by his side, while capitalizing on those opportunities more often than not.
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Denver Nuggets | -170 ML |
Dallas Mavericks | +145 ML |
Spread | DEN Nuggets -4 |
Total Points | O/U 233 (-110) |
Nikola Jokic (DEN Nuggets) | O/U 28.5 |
Jamal Murray (DEN Nuggets) | O/U 17.5 |
Michael Porter Jr. (DEN Nuggets) | O/U 15.5 |
Kyrie Irving (DAL Mavericks) | O/U 23.5 |
Klay Thompson (DAL Mavericks) | O/U 15.5 |
PJ Washington (DAL Mavericks) | O/U 15.5 |
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.