Dallas at Los Angeles

A pair of outstanding defenses meet and plenty is on the line with both fighting for playoffs positioning. The Lakers are No. 13 in the NBA in points allowed, the Mavericks No. 7, while the Lakers are No. 5 in field goal shooting defense allowed and the Mavs rank No. 6. The Lakers prefer to slow the pace down with all their injuries plus Coach Mike Brown prefers that style and the veteran Dallas team will oblige, playing its third straight road game. The UNDER is 10-4 in the Mavericks’ last 14 road games vs. a team with a home winning percentage of greater than .600. The Lakers are also on a 3-0 run UNDER the total, 6-1 UNDER the total when playing on one day of rest, plus 17-5 UNDER the total in their last 22 games as a home favorite of 0.5 to 4.5. Play the UNDER.