Rejoice — the Mavericks will play basketball tonight. No, really. After an eight day layoff between games due to the winter storm that put the state of Texas on pause, Dallas will host the Memphis Grizzlies tonight at the American Airlines Center.

Both the Mavericks and Grizzlies sit in similar positions within the Western Conference — the Mavericks at 13-15 and the Grizzlies at 13-13. For Memphis, they’re coming off a dud against Phoenix, losing by 31 points at home on Saturday.

Rust?

Having eight games off between games is essentially an All-Star break. And that’s exactly what the Mavericks just had. Add in a few days of no practice because of power outages and poor road conditions in Dallas and you have to wonder if the Mavs will show any rust or have a slow start tonight against Memphis.

Best case scenario? Dallas continues their recent hot streak before the layoff, winning five of their last seven games and finally hit their stride to get themselves back into the Western Conference playoff picture. And looking at the upcoming schedule for Dallas, the Mavericks need this game tonight as their next three games include Boston, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn — a murderer’s row in the Eastern Conference.