Can Luka & KP continue to build chemistry?

Its not any secret really, KP & Luka aren’t the best of friends. Porzingis basically acknowledged as much after Thursday’s win over Milwaukee.

But as many have said before, at the professional level, guys don’t need to be best friends to work on the court. And Luka & KP’s showing against Milwaukee is a good example of that.

KP saw the first three shots of the game Thursday which helped propel him to maybe his best showing of the year. Now every game isn’t going to be Luka actively searching for KP, at least not to that degree, and that’s okay. But it was a good start and hopefully they build upon it.

Can the Mavericks slow down Derozan

Demar Derozan has long been a thorn in the Mavericks side. His excellence attacking the rim and ability to get to the foul line consistently exposes the flaws in the Mavericks defense.

However, the Mavericks defense has been playing well. Between Dorian Finney-Smith, Josh Richardson, and even Maxi Kleber, the guys have been making it tough for opposing perimeter players. Just ask Khris Middleton & Jrue Holiday.

Derozan presents a different challenge though, and whomever wins this battle likely has the inside track in this matchup.

How will Willie Cauley-Stein look?

For the first time in forever, Willie Cauley-Stein popped up as probable on the injury report. If he plays, it will be his first time on the floor since the Mavericks March 17th win over the Clippers.

WCS isn’t some incredibly high-impact player. He’s a backup center playing 17 minutes per game, but for a team who is playing an incredibly short rotation with a jam-packed schedule, anything can help.

The team didn’t disclose what exactly Cauley-Stein was dealing with, but due to the length of the absence and how it was reported, Covid-19 seems like a decent bet.

So it might be awhile before he is back right. Certainly took the other Mavs time to get right, but they’ll be glad to have the big man back out there.