Rather amazingly, the home team is 0-5 straight up in the Clippers–Mavericks first-round Western Conference playoff series. It shifts back to Dallas on Friday night with the Mavs up 3-2 but underdogs on the NBA odds for Game 6.

How to Bet Clippers at Mavericks NBA Odds & TV Info

• When: Friday, 9 PM ET
• Where: American Airlines Center
• TV: ESPN
• Stream: ESPN app
• Radio:com

Why Bet on LA Clippers? | NBA Betting Odds

After looking so dominant in the previous two games in Dallas, the Clippers lost Game 5 back at home 105-100 on Wednesday. The Clippers fought from behind and failed to establish any sort of momentum — similar to what happened the first two games of the series. LA did manage to build a six-point lead in the third quarter, its largest lead of the game, but Dallas responded with a 25-5 run that essentially put the game out of reach.

Kawhi Leonard didn’t play like a superstar, with 20 points on 7-for-19 shooting, five rebounds and five assists in 42 minutes. Good numbers overall, sure, but not superstar. Kawhi airballed a potential tying three-pointer late. After Leonard’s shot, Rajon Rondo, who threw the inbounds pass to Kawhi in the corner, seemed livid and went at Leonard as they walked off the court have a brief but heated discussion.

Rondo didn’t have much right to say much as he had one of the worst nights of any Clipper, with one point on 0-of-6 shooting with six assists, two rebounds, and two turnovers, posting a team-worst minus-19 in the loss. Despite no longer being the go-to guy, the Clippers need Rondo to be a viable playmaker while providing his usual veteran presence on defense.

Paul George hit 7-of-15 shots 23 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals. Reggie Jackson had 20 points in 29 minutes — Jackson went off for his highest-scoring performance of the series, connecting on six three-pointers. Marcus Morris added 16 points, seven boards and four 3-pointers, and Nicolas Batum scored 10 points with seven boards.

The Clippers produced a well-balanced scoring effort, yet all five of their starters shot under 50 percent from the floor. Center Serge Ibaka missed a third straight game due to a back injury that he aggravated in Game 2. He’s in doubt for this one. Batum has been starting in his spot.

Why Bet on Dallas? | NBA Betting Odds

In NBA playoff history, when the series is tied 2-2, the winner of Game 5 goes on to win the series 82.5 percent of the time (174-37). The Mavs are banking on raising that percentage. The only other time the home team has lost the first five games of a best-of-7 series was in the 1995 Western Conference Finals between the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs.

Luka Doncic was dealing with a neck issue in Game 4 and didn’t play that well, but he was spectacular in the Game 5 victory with 42 points, eight rebounds, 14 assists and a steal. Doncic either scored or assisted on 83.8% of the Mavs’ field goals, the highest such percentage in a playoff game in NBA history. He joined LeBron James as the only players with 40+ PTS, 14+ AST, 8+ REB game in playoff history.

Tim Hardaway Jr. finished with 20 points and seven rebounds. He and Doncic were the only two players on the Dallas roster to score in double digits, something the Mavs are going to have to improve upon should they hope to secure the series Friday. Hardaway had 12 of his 20 points in the second half and while he did not shoot the ball great, his timing could not have been better. He had a 3-pointer that put the Mavericks up 98-91 and two free throws with 8.8 seconds left that made it 103-100.

Wednesday was the third game this series he’s scored 20 or more points. The Mavericks are 3-0 in those games.

On a night the Mavericks experimented with their frontcourt rotations, Dwight Powell’s eight points, seven rebounds, two assists and one steal were crucial the Dallas win. 7-footer Boban Marjanovic moved into the starting lineup for the first time this series and totaled nine points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes.

Will Rick Carlisle roll out that same starting lineup – with Marjanovic at center — that was so successful in Game 5?

“As we used to say in television, stay tuned,” Carlisle said. “A lot of things have changed very quickly in this series. The decision to start Boban was one that took a lot of time to analyze to see if we felt it was the right thing. We’ll look at the film closely. It’s certainly an option.”

Game Trends

• Clippers are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games following a straight up loss.
• Clippers are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 after scoring 100 points or more in their previous game.
• Clippers are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games as a favorite.
• Mavericks are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games as an underdog.
• Mavericks are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 home games vs. a team with a winning road record.
• Mavericks are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games overall.

Expert Prediction

• Clippers 111, Mavericks 108

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