The Dallas Mavericks get set to tangle against the New Orleans Pelicans Tuesday night inside the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, LA. They tip it off at 8:00 pm on a stacked night in the NBA. The game is part of the league's NBA In-Season Tournament - Group Play stage. The Mavericks just defeated the short-handed Pelicans over the weekend,135-124.  Mybookie has installed Dallas as a -4 point favorite. 

The Mavericks (8-2) have been able to get off to a nice start this season and they have also shown they are a solid road team as they have posted a good mark of 4-1 away from home. They have high expectations heading into the season and so far they have been playing like a team that is at the level of a playoff team. 

They have several big-time scorers on their roster and the offense is guided by veteran point guard Kyrie Irving, who is playing at a very high level through the first couple weeks of the season. The well-traveled 31-year-old point guard is averaging 23 points per game and he has had some monster games against the Pelicans as he is scoring around 35 a game to go along with seven assists against them. 

Dallas is a streaky team but they have a great player in 24-year-old Luka Doncic who is off to a sizzling start as he is putting up 32.6 per game. He can easily take over games and we saw that up close and personal last season. 

The Pelicans (4-6) have had issues this season and one glaring weakness of the team is their inability to consistently score. They rank 28^th in the league when it comes to points per game and they might be able to break out against a bad defensive Dallas team. 

New Orleans needs to take advantage of the fact that they have a strong presence in the paint as they have the 19^th best scoring stats in that regard. Power forward Zion Williamson is supposed to be the face of the franchise, but his health and his attitude have been an issue in the past. This season he is averaging 21 points per game and he just needs to be able to stay on the floor. 

The Pelicans also get some solid production from veteran Brandon Ingram who averages 22.8 points per game to go along with five rebounds and five assists. He is a good piece to their offensive puzzle. If the Pelicans can get some consistency from their top tier scorers they can make things interesting this season. 

Look for them to get the ball down on the low block to Williamson and hope he has a monster night. 

The Pelicans are 0-4 in their last five games against the number and they are 2-2 in their road games against the spread. The totals have gone over in three of their last five games and the totals have gone over in three of their last five games at home. Dallas is 4-1 in its last five games and they are also 3-2 in their last five games against the number. They are a very solid 4-1 in their road games against the spread.