The Dallas Mavericks (9-13) will host the Golden State Warriors (11-10) on the second night of a back-to-back, fresh off of a 122-116 victory over the Atlanta Hawks, ending their six-game losing streak in what seemed to be the earliest “must-win” game of the season in recent memory.
Last season, the Mavs finished 3-0 against the Dubs, cleaning up by an average of 31.7 points with a high-score of 142.
They also didn’t face Steph Curry in any of those games.
They did see a lot of Draymond Green though.
Draymond Green talks trash to Kristaps Porzingis
…and Klay Thompson gets into it from the BENCH🤔pic.twitter.com/tKderTdWyj— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) December 29, 2019
Dallas is currently 1-3 on the second night of a back-to-back and will likely not see Kristaps Porzingis, as he hasn’t suited up yet for the second go-around of consecutive contests.
Size advantage for the Mavs
The Warriors will be without starting center James Wiseman and back up big man Kevon Looney, their two most competent front court rotation pieces aside from Draymond.
Dallas isn’t necessarily a big team by any stretch, but if Kristaps Porzingis suits up, none of the healthy Warriors can even reach high enough to put a hand in his face.
Any lineup featuring KP alongside one of Maxi Kleber, Willey Caullie-Stein or Dwight Powell will be sure to wreak havoc in the paint.
Even if Porzingis does sit, the Mavs finally have options to make up for the lost firepower.
Eric Paschall will likely be expected to pick up some slack for Golden State with his enormous wingspan, but only stands at 6’ 6’’, just like his running mate Draymond.
Rotation changes
With the Mavericks finally restocked with all its weapons, the rotation has clearly tightened up for head coach Rick Carlisle.
Over the last three games, in which players have returned to action after being out due to health and safety protocols, four out of five starters each night saw over 30 minutes of action.
THJ earns his 30+ minutes per night, but comes off the bench, meaning about 25 minutes for the starter sitting during the final stretch of the game.
To round out the now eight-man rotation, Carlisle has given around 25 minutes to Brunson off the bench and 15 minutes to whichever piece fits best into the game plan.
Many fans pointed to the poor shooting and effort on the defensive end during the six-game slide, but Dallas was without many key contributors in those areas.
It’s clear Carlisle wants to see what he has with all of his pieces fully assembled.
With the lineup now intact, hopefully the Mavs can pull their dead-last three-point shooting percentage out of the mud, instead of depending on players playing outside of their roles or throwing rookies into the fire.
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