The Dallas Mavericks get set to face off against the Utah Jazz on Thursday night inside the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. This will be a back-to-back meeting between the two teams. They tip this one off at 8:30 pm. The Mavericks are looking to position themselves nicely in the Western Conference playoff standings, while the Jazz are looking to finish the season on a high note over the last month or so. 

Bookmaker has installed the Mavericks as a heavy - 13.5-point favorite. 

The Mavericks have been on a nice little run lately, having won six of their last seven games overall. They are starting to take the shape of a team ready for a surprising playoff run. They are scoring in bunches, and they have one of the most talented and entertaining players in the league on their roster, Luka Doncic. He is averaging close to 35 points a game, which is incredible. He can score 40 plus on any given night and has dropped. 

They believe as long as he stays healthy and with the mix of veterans, they already have on the roster, including point guard Kyrie Irving, who has turned back the clock this season and has played on a very high level. Irving averages 25 points per game to go along with just under six assists per contest.

Irving loves to push the ball up the floor and look for the Mavericks to push the pace and the tempo of the game in this one. 

The Jazz have had a rough season and are looking for some wins to close the campaign positively. They took a step backward this season, and they will need to make some significant moves in the off-season, adding some depth to their roster and fixing up their perimeter defense. 

Utah is a whopping 18.5 games behind the front-running Oklahoma City Thunder in the Northwest Standings. They now have a shot at making a run at the division title. They entered Wednesday night's play having dropped eight of ten overall and would love to get a win Thursday night against an excellent Dallas team. 

They are led on offense by power forward Lauri Markkanen, averaging around 23 points per game to go along with just over eight rebounds per night. He has been dealing with some injuries as well, and according to reports, he was out for Wednesday's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder due to quadriceps contusion maintenance. 

Point guard Colin Sexton will try to carry the load. He comes into this contest having averaged 18 points and just under six assists per game. He is an exciting player to watch, too. 

Dallas is 4-1 in their last five games and 4-1 in their previous five games against the number. They are 21-12 in their road games against the spread. The totals have gone over in one out of their last five games. The Jazz are 1-4 in their previous five games and 1-4 in their last five games against the spread. The Jazz are 14-19 in their road games against the spread. The totals have gone over in two out of the Jazz' last five games.