Kristaps Porzingis Predicted to Struggle Again in Game 7

Remember when Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis were supposed to be one of the best one-two punches in the NBA? That feels like a distant memory now.

The Dallas Mavericks have earned the opportunity to play spoiler today, as they have made it to a Game 7 against the heavily favored Los Angeles Clippers, but that was in no part due to the play of Porzingis, who has been virtually invisible this series.

After a solid regular season where he averaged 20.1 points and 8.9 rebounds, the Mavericks’ center has wilted in the playoffs when the lights were the brightest. He is averaging only 12.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per game this series. Failing to average five rebounds per game as a 7-foot-3 center is downright embarrassing.

Vegas is expecting slightly better numbers from him today, as WynnBET has his player props for points and rebounds set slightly above his series averages. His point total is set at 14.5, with the under set as the -115 favorite, while his rebounding total is set at 5.5 with the over favored (-130) to the under (-104).

Given what we’ve seen from Porzingis so far this postseason, I’ll be taking the under for both his points total and his rebounding total.

In my bold predictions for Game 5, I gave Porzingis the benefit of the doubt, thinking that he’d finally show flashes of what we saw in the regular season, only for him to put up another stinker of a performance by getting only eight points and six rebounds. He followed up that performance with yet another tough outing in Game 6, where he recorded seven points and five rebounds.

Just like LeBron James in his series against the Phoenix Suns, if you don’t show up when I back you for one game, I’ll gladly fade you the next.

WynnBET has the Mavericks set as 6.5-point underdogs in Game 7, and the total is set at 210.5 points. Their moneyline odds are set at +210, which means they have an implied probability of 32.26% to upset the Clippers and advance to the second round.