Spread & Over/Under Predictions for Hornets at Mavericks

Your betting guide to Friday night's game between the Charlotte Hornets and Dallas Mavericks.

Each game day, we at All Hornets will release an article on our thoughts on the spread and the over/under of Charlotte Hornets games. The star ratings next to the play describe the overall confidence in that particular play.

Star ratings:

1 Star - Not very confident

2 Star - A little confident

3 Star - Fairly confident

4 Star - Very confident

5 Star - Should be a lock to happen

Spread: Mavericks -14.5

The Mavericks enter this contest with the Hornets following three straight one-possession games, losing two consecutive out of the three. Luka Doncic comes into this one following a brilliant 30-point, 17-assist game against the defending champion Golden State Warriors, but they could potentially be without their co-star Kyrie Irving again in this one due to a foot injury. Tim Hardaway Jr is also questionable with an illness for Friday night's game.

Unfortunately, the Hornets have been hit even harder by the injury bug last night in New Orleans. Terry Rozier, Kelly Oubre Jr, and Dennis Smith Jr all left Thursday's game with various injuries/illnesses. It is unclear at the time of this writing if any of these three will give it a go Friday night. A team that is already without LaMelo Ball, Mark Williams, and Cody Martin will be that much worse off without three more NBA-experienced guards. The offense will seemingly take the biggest hit as without the three players who exited last night's game, the Hornets will be without a healthy guard on their roster who has significant NBA experience.

Just given the fact that Charlotte is running out of healthy bodies to put on the court, I would take a five-star play on Dallas in this one.

Over/Under: 227.5

I love a four-star play on the under in this game. We already discussed the number of injuries both teams are facing coming into Friday night, and I expect to see a fairly low-scoring game by current NBA standards. The Hornets' offense should lack much fluidity if Rozier, Oubre, and Smith Jr all sit, and their extremely short-handed roster is going into this one on the second night of a back-to-back. I would expect to see some pretty tired legs from Charlotte throughout this game and a lack of scoring to go along with that. Play the under here.

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