Warriors vs. Mavericks odds: NBA picks from expert who's 9-3 on Mavs' games

Galin Dragiev has his finger on the pulse of the Mavericks and just locked in a play for Thursday's game

Despite battling injury issues to their star players, the Golden State Warriors are still the most explosive team in the NBA. They can take a tight game and turn it into a blowout in a heartbeat and, in the process, turn what looked like a promising wager on the underdog into fool's gold. 

On Thursday, the Warriors are 10-point favorites against the Dallas Mavericks, down from an open of 12. The Over-Under, or how many points Vegas thinks will be scored, is 212.5, up from an open of 210.5.

And with oddsmakers fully aware of the Warriors' capabilities, the Warriors have struggled to topple massive spreads for their backers, with just a 13-15 ATS mark this season.

Nevertheless, with star Stephen Curry sidelined by injury and defensive stopper Draymond Green listed as questionable, the Warriors are still double-digit favorites Thursday night against the visiting Mavericks in a TNT prime-time matchup.

So who has the ATS edge? Before picking either side, you need to read what SportsLine NBA expert Galin Dragiev has to say about it.

"The Dragon" is a veteran writer and learned early on to predict the outcome of the game before determining how success trickles down to individual players, so he spent more time studying team outcomes than projecting individual players.

Dragiev is a robust 9-3 in his last 12 selections in games involving the Mavericks, and he has a play released on SportsLine for Thursday night's game.

Dragiev knows the Mavericks are just 8-20 straight up, but can be a valuable ATS underdog in certain spots. Veteran coach Rick Carlisle always has his team prepared, and Dallas is known for competing with and sometime surprising superior foes.

In fact, they are coming off a 95-89 win over the Spurs as 5.5-point underdogs.

Meanwhile, the Warriors have failed to cover in their last two, missing the cash against the Pistons and Blazers by one basket each despite logging the straight-up victory.

So will the short-handed Warriors cover against the Mavericks on Thursday? Or will Dallas pull an upset, or at least stay within the spread? Visit SportsLine to see which side of Warriors-Mavericks you need to be all over, all from the expert who's 9-3 on Mavs' games, and find out.