On Wednesday, the Sacramento Kings host the Dallas Mavericks in a meeting between two teams that are looking to win back-to-back games. The Mavericks are coming off of a road win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday, while the Kings beat the Oklahoma City Thunder at home last night.
Which of these teams will come away with the big win tonight? You’ll want to keep reading our Mavericks vs. Kings NBA picks and predictions for Wednesday, December 29.
Mavericks vs Kings odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
The Mavericks opened this game as 2-point underdogs, but the line has now moved to 2.5 in a lot of places. Most of the bets in this one are coming in on Dallas early. The total, which opened at 219.5, has bounced around all over the place, as you can get it as low as 218.5 and as high as 220.5.
Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right until tip-off and be sure to check out the full NBA odds before betting to ensure you get the best number.
Mavericks vs Kings predictions
Predictions made on 12/29/2021 at 11:00 a.m. ET.
Click on each prediction to jump to the full analysis.
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Mavericks vs Kings game info
• Location: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
• Date: Wednesday, December 29, 2021
• Tip-off: 10:30 p.m. ET
• TV: NBATV, NBCA-CA, BSSW
Mavericks vs Kings betting preview
Injuries
Mavericks: Luka Doncic F (Out), Tim Hardaway Jr. G (Out), Trey Burke G (Out), Reggie Bullock G (Out), Maxi Kleber F (Out), Willie Cauley-Stein C (Out).
Kings: Davion Mitchell G (Doubtful).
Find our latest NBA injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Kings are 5-1 against the spread in their last six home games against teams with losing road records. Find more NBA betting trends for Mavericks vs. Kings.
Mavericks vs Kings picks and predictions
Our predictions are compiled from the analysis of the spread and total and are indications of where we are leaning for this game.
Our best bet is the play that we like the most for this game, which we would actually put some of our bankroll behind.
Spread analysis
The Mavericks were impressive against the Blazers in their blowout road win on Monday, but that Portland team looks rather checked out right now. And even if that’s not the case, the Blazers are far from the team they once were. With that in mind, it’s important not to forget that the Mavericks had lost four of five before winning that game, as this team isn’t playing very well right now. And while the same can be said about the Kings, Sacramento is the team with more talent in this game and has the benefit of playing at home.
With Doncic and Hardaway out for the Mavericks, the team is relying extremely heavily on Kristaps Porzingis and Jalen Brunson. Both are very good players, and they are plenty capable of showing out in this matchup, but the Kings still have a significant advantage in the backcourt and arguably have the Mavericks edged in the frontcourt, too. The guard duo of Tyrese Haliburton and De’Aaron Fox is one of the better young combos the league has to offer, and the team also brings sharpshooter Buddy Hield off the bench.
Overall, it’s best not to overthink this game too much. Sacramento might be a punchline on most nights, but the team really should win this game at home against the depleted, Luka-less Mavs.
Prediction: Kings +2.5 (-109)
Over/Under analysis
The Mavericks have gone Over in four of the last five games and the last two have been especially high-scoring affairs. The Mavericks and Utah Jazz combined to score 236 points on Christmas Day, and then Dallas and Portland combined to score 249 points on Monday. This squad might not look like it has much offensively without Doncic, it’s finding ways to run up scores. It now gets to face a miserable Sacramento defense, but the Kings should be able to match everything the Mavs do offensively.
The Over has also hit in each of Sacramento’s last two games, and it’s also 4-2 in the team’s last six. The Over is also 14-6 when the Kings are avenging a loss this season, and it’s also 15-5 when the team is playing in a home game after a home win over the last three seasons.
Prediction: Over 218.5 (-110)
Best bet
This season, the Kings are 6-5 both straight-up and against the spread when avenging a road loss against an opponent. They’re also facing a Mavericks team that is just 6-9 straight-up and 4-10-1 against the spread when coming off a win this season. This Dallas team hasn’t strung together wins very often this year, and it just doesn’t seem likely that it’ll happen here.
Until Doncic comes back, it’s going to be hard for the Mavericks to consistently win games. The group might be playing competitive basketball without him, but talent is important in the NBA.
Pick: Kings +2.5 (-109)
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