The Dallas Mavericks (23-50) remain on the road Friday night to take on the Portland Trailblazers (37-37). The Mavericks have lost five in a row again, most recently to the Denver Nuggets who crushed them from three. Portland has won five of thier last six and a win against Dallas would put them back up over .500 for the first time since January 22nd.
Here are the main things you need to know:
The injury report is ugly for Dallas. Here’s a list of who is out, past the usual suspects in Kyrie Irving and Dereck Lively… Daniel Gafford will miss the game with a shoulder sprain. Caleb Martin is dealing with plantar facia issues and won’t play. Khris Middleton is down with an illness. Moussa Cisse isn’t playing as they don’t have much eligibility left for him. John Poulakidas is out, but no reason is given (my take is that he’s too good!).
The Blazers have a lot of guys out as well but past Shaedon Sharp missing, I don’t think the rest of the guys out will affect their rotation.
I suspect most of our guys will actually be watching NCAA action and I don’t blame them. Still, Dallas comes to play most nights and the Blazers aren’t really any good either, but they’re playing better than the Mavericks. At this point, we’re all committed to the tank I think, so perhaps we just see Cooper Flagg take a lot of threes.
Be sure to chime in with your predictions in the comments!
Consider joining Josh and me on Pod Maverick live after the game on YouTube, we should start LATE. Thanks so much for spending time with us here at Mavs Moneyball. Let’s go Mavs!