Spread and over/under predictions for Hornets’ MLK Day matinee against Kyrie, Mavericks

The streaky Charlotte Hornets welcome the Dallas Mavericks to the Queen City for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee as they continue to adjust to life without Brandon Miller. Charlotte, winners of two straight and three of their last four, will be without Miller indefinitely after the star swingman suffered a wrist injury in Utah last week.

Dallas enters the game at 23-19, good for 7th place in the stacked Western Conference. The Mavericks are well rested after their upset win in Oklahoma City on Friday night, but the extra rest failed to heal their crowd. According to head coach Jason Kidd, Luka Doncic, Dante Exum, Dereck Lively II, Quentin Grimes and a handful of other Mavericks will be inactive Monday afternoon, setting the stage for Kyrie Irving to carry Dallas’ offense.

Let’s take a look at the latest pregame odds (all odds via FanDuel).

1 Star – Not very confident
2 Star – A bit confident
3-star – Fairly confident
4 Star – Very confident
5 Star – Should be a lock to happen

Three-star game on Hornets +4.5

The Hornets have been playing solid basketball of late, and for the first time in recent memory, they are the healthier team heading into today’s matchup. The matchup between LaMelo Ball and Kyrie Irving will pit two of the league’s most creative guards against each other in a stand-alone game that the NBA world will absolutely want to see.

Look for Charlotte to hang with the defending Western Conference champions in a game that will be close all the way to the final buzzer. Over the last ten games, the Hornets have actually had a better net rating than the Mavericks (Charlotte’s -3.3 to best Dallas’ -4.7), which tells me Charlotte is underrated in this one.

Four star game on under

The math here is simple. Both teams have played good defense in recent contests while the attacks have struggled. The Hornets and Mavericks both sport top 12 defenses in their last 10 games, and the injuries to Charlotte’s star shooters and some of Dallas’ depth will make it difficult to find offense in the Queen City.

Odds Disclaimer

The odds are updated regularly and are subject to change.

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