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The Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers are meeting in the first round of the NBA Western Conference playoffs for the third time in five seasons.

Game 1 of the best-of-7 series is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday in L.A. (ABC).

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Mavericks vs. Clippers NBA playoff odds: Dallas favored in Game 1, series

The Dallas-Los Angeles series schedule is as follows:

• Game 1: At L.A., 3:30 p.m. Sunday, April 21 (ABC)
• Game 2: At L.A., 10 p.m., Tuesday, April 23 (TNT)
• Game 3: At Dallas, 8 p.m., Friday, April 26 (ESPN)
• Game 4: At Dallas, 3:30 p.m., Sunday, April 28 (ABC)
• Game 5 (if necessary): At L.A., TBD, Wednesday, May 1
• Game 6 (if nec.): At Dallas, TBD, Friday, May 3
• Game 7 (if nec.): At L.A., TBD, Sunday, May 5

Despite the Clippers finishing with a better record and owning the home-court advantage, the Mavericks are favored to win Game 1 and the series.

As of Wednesday, Dallas was a top online sportsbook-consensus 1-point favorite (-115 moneyline) in Sunday’s series opener at Crypto.com Arena. The game total was hovering around 224 points.

It’s much the same story with the series odds.

Surveying the lines Wednesday at five of the leading online sportsbooks, Luka Doncic and the Mavs were a series moneyline favorite at all five. The best Dallas odds on the board were -125 at DraftKings.

Meanwhile, the Clippers’ best series moneyline odds were +120 at both FanDuel and Caesar’s Sportsbooks.

Mavericks vs. Clippers NBA playoff odds: Can L.A. cool off sizzling Dallas?

In their two recent first-round series meetings, Los Angeles prevailed both times, winning in six games in 2020 and in seven the following season in 2021.

But this is a new season featuring new-look Dallas and L.A. rosters built around All-Stars Doncic and Kawhi Leonard.

The fourth-seeded Clippers (51-31) won two of the three regular-season matchups against the fifth-seeded Mavs (50-32). But the most recent was back on Dec. 20 — a 120-111 L.A. road victory.

In the meantime, Dallas finished the regular season as one of the league’s hottest teams, winning 16 of its final 22 games to nearly catch the Clippers in the standings.

Doncic led the league in scoring with a career-high 33.9-point average and finished second with a 9.8-assist average — also a career-best mark.

Backcourt mate Kyrie Irving is one of the league’s top sidekicks, averaging 25.6 points per outing for the Mavericks, who rank eighth offensively with a 117.0 rating and 18th defensively (114.9 rating) for an overall net rating of +2.1 (15th).

The Clips, meanwhile, are led by the talented and experienced trio of Leonard (23.7 points), Paul George (22.6) and James Harden (16.6 points, 8.5 assists).

Leonard, a six-time All-Star, is expected to play in Game 1 despite sitting out the final eight contests of the regular season with inflammation in his surgically-repaired right knee.

In the league efficiency ratings, the Clippers rank fourth offensively (117.9) and 16th defensively (114.6) for a net rating of +3.4 (seventh).

The winner of this series will face the survivor of the Oklahoma City vs. the West No. 8 seed (either the New Orleans Pelicans or Sacramento Kings) in the second round.