GDT 1/7/12: Hornets @ Mavs (FSW/8 pm CT)

[mavspwnage]

If there are no objections, I will try my hand at the GDT. Did this a couple times last season and we won one and lost one. Figure this isn't a bad time to try again. If we lose, it's because we have started slow, and it's not my fault.

Hornets (2-5, 1-2 away)
Mavs (3-5, 3-2 home)


http://espn.go.com/nba/preview?gameId=320107006

The Dallas Mavericks received a much-needed day off after attributing their latest loss to fatigue. It may not take much to get back on track against the struggling New Orleans Hornets.

Dallas looks to continue its regular-season home dominance of New Orleans when the teams meet Saturday night. The Mavericks (3-5) will be playing their seventh game in 10 days, and they complained about the compressed schedule after Thursday's 93-71 blowout loss at San Antonio.

Dirk Nowitzki went 3 for 11 and scored six points -- his lowest total since scoring five against Houston on Dec. 18, 2009, when he left early due to an injury. Dallas trailed by 14 points after one quarter and by 26 at halftime.

"I like that we fought back and tried, but offensively nobody had legs," Nowitzki said. "A bunch of shots were right there that could have gone. (Jason Terry), myself, everything seemed to come out.

"Some of it is on us, but six games in eight days is a lot for anybody."

Jason Terry went 4 of 14 with 12 points as the Mavericks shot a season-low 35.1 percent.

"We're a team that prides ourselves on getting stops defensively and making them pay on the offensive end, and that didn't happen tonight," Terry said. "Maybe when guys get their legs back, we'll start making shots at a higher percentage."

Facing the Hornets at home might be exactly what the Mavericks need. Dallas has won 18 of the last 19 regular-season meetings at home dating back to 2000, when the New Orleans franchise was located in Charlotte.

If the Hornets (2-5) are to win in Dallas in the regular season for the first time since a 104-97 victory Jan. 14, 2009, they'll have to do it without injured guard Eric Gordon. Gordon is expected to miss 2/3 weeks with an injured right knee and sat out for the fifth time in Friday's 96-88 loss to Denver.

New Orleans didn't seem to miss him at the start, setting a season high for points in a quarter and taking a 32-24 lead after the first. It then set a season low with 15 second-quarter points and couldn't recover. Greivis Vasquez scored a team-high 16 points off the bench for the Hornets, who have lost five straight after opening the season with consecutive wins.

"The same thing happened like last game," said Carl Landry, who scored 15 points. "We held them to eight points in the third quarter and then the last couple of possessions they went on a run and in the fourth quarter we gave them 34 points. That is something you can't have."

Nowitzki is averaging 23.1 points at home lifetime in the regular season against the Hornets, including a 32-point performance in Dallas' 121-89 win April 13 in the most recent meeting at American Airlines Center. New Orleans, though, has won three of the last five matchups overall, with the teams splitting four games last season.

Dallas will be without point guard Jason Kidd, who suffered a lower-back injury in Thursday's loss. New Orleans may be without Trevor Ariza, who has missed two games with a right groin strain.

Eric Gordon out for the Hornets. Don't know yet if Ariza will be available after missing the last two games.

With Kidd being out, VC will be probably be back in a starter's role: West/Carter/Marion/Dirk/Haywood.