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Two of the last teams to open their 2020-21 NBA regular season are the Dallas Mavericks, led by NBA MVP betting favorite Luka Doncic, visiting fellow star Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks, who are short favorites on the NBA odds for Thursday. Doncic and Young were traded for one another at the 2018 draft.

How to Bet Dallas at Atlanta NBA Odds & TV Info

When: Thursday, 7:30 PM ET
Where: State Farm Arena
TV: TNT
Stream: TNT app
Radio: Tunein.com
NBA Odds: Hawks -2.5 (total 225.5)

Last Season

Dallas won both matchups. The game in Atlanta finished 122-116 for the Mavs. Luka Doncic scored 27 points and dished out 14 assists. Kristaps Porzingis added 24 points and 11 rebounds for the Mavericks, including a crucial tip-in of a miss by Doncic with 32 seconds remaining. Trae Young had 21 points and nine assists for Atlanta. The home team has taken six of the last seven matchups.

Why Bet on Dallas?

The Mavericks appear pretty healthy entering the season. Their big offseason addition was guard Reggie Bullock, which isn’t that big. Last season, he averaged 10.9 points, a career-high 3.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 30.0 minutes in 65 games (64 starts) with the Knicks. Bullock averaged playoff career highs of 8.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 32.4 minutes in five first round starts against the Atlanta Hawks.

This will mark the third time in franchise history that Dallas will open the season against Atlanta, with all three of those instances coming since 2013-14. The Mavs will begin the year in Atlanta for the first time ever. It will also mark the first time in three years that Dallas and Atlanta will meet outside the month of February.

In four career games against the Hawks, Mavericks star Luka Doncic is averaging 25.0 points, 9.3 rebounds, 8.0 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.3 blocks per game. Doncic has totaled exactly 100 points in those four games, topped 20 points in all four, and the Mavericks have gone 3-1 in those contests. He has increased his scoring output in each of those games.

In 16 career games (10 starts) against Atlanta, former Hawk Tim Hardaway Jr. is averaging 17.8 points per game – his highest scoring average against any franchise.

The Mavericks will open the season on the road for the 20th in team history. Dallas is 9-10 (.474) all-time in season-opening games played on the road (compared to 13-9, .591, all-time in season-opening games played at home).

This will be the Dallas head coaching debut of former star player Jason Kidd. Kidd, who was inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018, is in his third stint in Dallas after spending eight of his 19 seasons as a player with the team and helping the Mavericks to the 2011 NBA title

Why Bet on Atlanta?

The Hawks reached the Eastern Conference Finals last season for the second time in franchise history, also winning the most postseason games in team history (10) before falling to the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks in six games.

Including postseason play, Atlanta went 37-19 (.661) after March 1, the most wins and highest winning percentage in the Eastern Conference, and the second-best mark in each category in the NBA. The Hawks went 23-6 in their last 29 home games, including playoffs.

Star Trae Young averaged 28.5 ppg and 9.5 apg during the team’s postseason run, becoming the first player in NBA history to post at least 20 points and seven-or-more assists in each of his first 13 career playoff games. Last regular season, he averaged 25.3 points (14th in the NBA), 9.4 assists (2nd) and 3.9 rebounds in 33.7 minutes (.438 FG%, .343 3FG%, .886 FT%), leading the NBA in free throws made (484). He was the only qualifying player to average at least 25 ppg and 9 apg.

Clint Capela averaged 15.2 points, 14.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks in 30.1 minutes in 2020-21 (.594 FG%, .573 FT%), leading the NBA in rebounding while finishing third in blocks per game and 10th in field goal percentage. For the 2020-21 regular season, Atlanta averaged 113.7 points per game, which was the third highest mark since the club moved to Atlanta in 1968-69.

Couple of injury concerns for Atlanta with reserve guard Lou Williams and reserve forward Danilo Gallinari both questionable. Gallinari currently ranks sixth in career free-throw percentage among active players who have made at least 1,200 free throws. Gallo’s lifetime free-throw percentage of 87.6 ranks 22nd all-time.