Spread & over/under predictions for Hornets' MLK Day matinee against Kyrie, Mavericks

The streaking Charlotte Hornets welcome the Dallas Mavericks to the Queen City for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee as they continue to adjust to life without Brandon Miller. Charlotte, winners of two straight and three of their last four, will be missing Miller indefinitely after the star swingman suffered a wrist injury in Utah last week.

Dallas enters the game at 23-19, good for 7th in the stacked Western Conference. The Mavericks are well rested after their upset win in Oklahoma City on Friday night, but the extra rest failed to heal their litany of injuries. According to head coach Jason Kidd, Luka Doncic, Dante Exum, Dereck Lively II, Quentin Grimes, and a handful of other Mavericks will be inactive on Monday afternoon, setting the stage for Kyrie Irving to carry Dallas' offense.

Let's take a look at the latest odds before game time (all odds via FanDuel).

Star ratings (Strength of prediction):

1 Star - Not very confident
2 Star - A little confident
3 Star - Fairly confident
4 Star - Very confident
5 Star - Should be a lock to happen

Spread: Mavericks -4.5

Three-star play on Hornets +4.5

The Hornets are playing solid basketball as of late, and for the first time in recent memory, are the healthier team heading into today's matchup. The LaMelo Ball vs. Kyrie Irving matchup will pit two of the league's most creative guards against each other in a noon tip, standalone game that the NBA world will absolutely be watching.

Look for Charlotte to hang with the defending Western Conference champions in a game that will be tight all the way to the final buzzer. Over the last ten games, the Hornets actually sport a better net rating than the Mavericks (Charlotte's -3.3 bests Dallas' -4.7), telling me Charlotte is undervalued in this one.

Over/Under 224

Four star play on the under

The calculus here is simple. Both teams have been playing great defense in recent contests while the offenses have struggled. The Hornets and Mavericks both sport top 12 defenses in their last 10 games, and the injuries to Charlotte's star shooting guard and a chunk of Dallas' depth will make offense hard to come by in the Queen City.

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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