Portland Trail Blazers vs Dallas Mavericks Prediction: Late-game woes haunt Portland, Mavs have Doncic

The NBA season is on and we are into the midseason period which is close to the trade deadline. This is where we can witness a ton of trades as teams look to increase the depth or acquire young talent. This season has been a record-breaking one and we can see a ton of them break even further. One of the record-breakers, Luka Doncic will lead his Dallas Mavericks against the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Trail Blazers enter the game after losing 113:119 despite a 50 points outburst by sharpshooter Damian Lillard. Unfortunately, Lillard’s heroics haven’t been enough and they have lost five in a row which has relegated Portland to 22 losses, and have just 19 wins. Two of these losses have been at home. The Blazers still have a chance to get their record back on track, considering they will play eight of their nine games at home.

Lillard has been in incredible form whereas Jerami Grant and Anfernee Simons both have averaged over 20 points. However, lately, the offense hasn’t done a great job of closing out games after building early leads. Defensively, Portland has been doing a decent job defensively compared to last season. The problem is that at this point, Portland can’t afford to lose their way late in the game.

The Mavericks head into the game after defeating the Lakers 119:115 in Overtime behind another scintillating Luka Doncic performance who nabbed 35 points, 14 rebounds, and 13 assists. This win broke a two-game losing streak and the Mavs now have 24 wins and 19 losses. This return is nothing remarkable for a team that reached the West Finals last season but it can be considered a strong start.

Of course, it is all about Doncic for the team and he has been spearheading the effort once again. There are offensive cracks in terms of depth and there is a lot of streak shooting going on with the Mavericks which surely misses the play of Jalen Brunson who signed with the Knicks. Christian Wood, Tim Hardaway, and Spencer Dinwiddie have all given decent support but the team’s wing position hasn’t given the required shooting.

• Trail Blazers: OUT: Nasir Little, Justise Winslow. PROBABLE: Gary Payton II. QUESTIONABLE: Damian Lillard;
• Mavericks: OUT: Maxi Kleber, Josh Green, Dorian Finney-Smith. Game-Time Decision: Christian Wood

• Expected Leading Scorers: Luka Doncic(33-36 Points), Damian Lillard(31-36 Points)- QUES;
• Expected Leading Rebounders: Jusuf Nurkic(11-14 Rebounds), Luka Doncic(10-13 Rebounds);
• Expected Leading Playmakers: Luka Doncic(10-13 Assists), Damian Lillard(9-11 Assists)- QUES

The Mavericks are highly dependent upon Doncic but that athlete has been in such form that the opposition is playing 1v5 against them. The Trail Blazers have big injury news with Damian Lillard being questionable and his performance is essential for the team’s success. However, I see Grant and Simons erupting for big nights here. I believe the Trail Blazers will win here and predict a scoreline of 119:111 in their favor.