I thought before the playoffs began the Mavs could come out of the West and might sweep the Clippers, especially with Kawhi ailing. I'm not going to lose faith after one terrible outing. Too much talent and playoff experience here for them to go down easy. Luka and Co will show their mettle tonight and find a way to win this game. Mavs were a covering machine for over a month, that hasn't just disappeared with a few days off and one bad game

DAL was rusty last time out and had some issues, but man, this offense was humming the final six weeks of the season and the Clippers are not elite defensively. Yeah they get more tuned in during the playoffs but Mavs averaged 116/G after ASG, LAC allowed 112/G and Dallas averaged 114/G vs LAC in the regular season. If Luka and Kyrie get their 35-40 each, we don't need much else from the supporting cast to get us over this total. Run of unders thus far has these numbers getting pretty low. I project the Mavs offense to bounce back here

A dismal first half in Game 1 of this series ended any hope that the Mavericks had of opening things up with a victory. They made a push in the second half, but the huge hole that they had already dug for themselves was too much to ultimately climb out of. The Mavericks scored eight points in the second quarter of Game 1. That’s not happening again. They shot just 38.8 percent from the field for the game. That’s also not happening again. I still think the Mavericks win this series and I think they shift home court in their favor with a win in Game 2.

Home sides have won all eleven playoff games outright into tonight, though the venerable zig-zag made its presence felt on Monday in covers for the Sixers and Lakers. Dallas looks a very good zig-zag candidate tonight after that outlier of a first half on Sunday when scoring only 30 points (8 in the end quarter!) to dig too big of a hole to recover vs. the Clippers. It might take someone besides Kyrie and Luka (who combined for 64 points in Game One) for the Mavs to reverse the outcome, but there's a good chance the Clips will again be minus Kawhi (knee), and we saw injured LA fade away in last year's first round after an opening win at Phoenix. Play Mavs

James Harden turned in a vintage performance in Game 1 but I cant help but be skeptical of his chances of doing the same in Game 2. I think we see a much more cohesive effort from the Mavericks and as a result I think Harden is kept in check from a defense that really improved down the stretch/over the 2nd half of the season.

Between Feb 6 and April 10 there was only one instance where the Mavs failed to cover consecutive games - a 3-game blip in March. Then they were blown out twice to end the regular season in meaningless games the starters basically sat out ... which looked stupid when they came out flat and rusty in Game 1. I don't see that happening again. Dallas was a top 3 team in the NBA from Feb on and this has become a big spot and they'll rise to the occasion. If Luka and Kyrie each have to score 40, because the rest of the cast is ball watching, then so be it. LAC was vulnerable at home and are probably flying a little too high now