Utah Jazz at Dallas Mavericks - 4/16/22 NBA Picks and Prediction

Dallas Mavericks (52-30) vs Utah Jazz (49-33)

Game Info: Saturday, April 16, 2022 at 1:00 pm (American Airlines Center)

Betting Odds: Dallas Mavericks +5.5 -- Over/Under: 217.5 Click Here for the Latest Odds

The Utah Jazz and the Dallas Mavericks collide in Game 1 at the American Airlines Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Utah Jazz are coming into the playoffs with a bit of momentum as they won four of their last six games of the regular season to finish with a 49-33 record, good enough for 5th place in the Western Conference standings. Donovan Mitchell led the team with 25.9 points and 5.3 assists per game, Bojan Bogdanovic averaged 18.1 points, Jordan Clarkson averaged 16.0 points off the bench while Rudy Gobert averaged 15.6 points, 14.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. As a team, the Jazz scored 113.6 points per game while shooting 47.1 percent from the field and 36.0 percent from the 3-point line.

Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks will be full of confidence coming into this one as they finished the regular season on a high note, winning nine of their last 11 games to finish with a 52-30 overall record and the 4th overall seed. Luka Doncic led the team with averages of 28.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game, Jalen Brunson averaged 16.3 points and 4.8 assists per game, Spencer Dinwiddie averaged 15.8 points and 3.9 assists in the 23 games he played while Dorian Finney-Smith averaged 11.0 points per game. As a team, the Mavericks scored 108.0 points per game while shooting 46.1 percent from the field and 35.0 percent from the 3-point line.

Looking at the betting trends, the Jazz are 7-18-1 ATS in their last 26 road games, 9-27-2 ATS in their last 38 games against a team with a winning record and 2-8-1 ATS in their last 11 games overall. The Mavericks are 5-1 ATS in their last six home games, 4-1 ATS in their last five games against a team with a winning record and 6-2 ATS in their last eight games overall.

Head to head, the under is 5-2 in the last seven meetings overall, the Jazz are 0-5 ATS in the last five meetings overall and the Jazz are 1-4 ATS in the last five meetings in Dallas.

The Jazz are coming into Game 1 at full strength and full of confidence, while the Mavericks have already ruled out Luka Doncic for this one and they will also be keeping an eye on Frank Ntilikina and Sterling Brown who are both listed as day to day. These wo teams split four meetings in the regular season with each game being decided by an average of 7.7 points, but with Doncic out, I’ll lean towards the Jazz to get the win and cover on the road in this spot.