Following a comeback victory against the Kings on Saturday, the Mavericks will look to build on that momentum tonight in Los Angeles against the Clippers.
The Clippers are coming off a victory against Chicago on Saturday night as they continue to build chemistry after trading star player Blake Griffin. In return for Griffin, the Clippers received Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, and Boban Marjanovic from Detroit.
For the Mavericks to win tonight, they’ll need everyone across the board to step their game up as leading scorer Harrison Barnes will be out with a left ankle sprain, reported by Earl K. Sneed at Mavs practice earlier today.
Harrison Barnes says he’s “on IR tonight” with a left ankle sprain. @dallasmavs will be without their leading scorer and rebounder against the Clippers. #DALatLAC
— Earl K. Sneed (@EarlKSneed) February 5, 2018
The loss of Barnes tonight is huge as he would be stacked up against newly acquired Tobias Harris, who shares a similar game to Barnes. Expect to see Wesley Matthews shift up to the small forward position to guard Harris and Yogi Ferrell bumped up into the starting lineup.
Dallas fan favorite DeAndre Jordan will sure be a matchup problem for the Mavericks as his 14.9 rebounds per game is second in the league. The Mavericks bigs must fight and scratch their way to some rebounds and keep Jordan off the offensive glass.
With Barnes out of the lineup, the Dallas bench must produce points more than ever as Lou Williams will surely continue to light up the scoreboard on the bench for the Clippers with his 23.4 scoring average. From Dennis Smith Jr. to J.J. Barea, the Dallas backcourt must play their best offensive game to top Williams, especially with Barnes out of the lineup.
Another late tip-off on the West Coast at 9:30pm. Go Mavs!
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