GDT: regular-season finale - Dallas @ Atlanta 7:00 CST

[mavErika]

CRUSH THEM! Or don't crush them!
I guess I'm fine with either outcome.

Mavericks-Hawks Preview

The Atlanta Hawks are looking to nail down home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The Dallas Mavericks know they will be opening their title defense on the road.

The Hawks will ensure that they open the postseason at home by defeat the visiting Mavericks in Thursday night's regular-season finale.

Atlanta (39-26) will be the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference and begin the playoffs against Boston, guaranteed the No. 4 seed as the Atlantic Division champion. The Hawks, though, are one game ahead of the Celtics and can secure home court for the series with a victory Thursday or a loss by Boston to Milwaukee.

"It's important to try to get home-court advantage," guard Willie Green said. "We'll see what happens last game."

Dallas (36-29) will be the sixth or seventh seed in the West. The Mavericks know they'll face a tough opponent in the first round as they embrace the challenge of trying to repeat.

"A sixth or seventh seed is generally gonna be viewed as an underdog-type team and that's OK," coach Rick Carlisle told the Mavericks' official website. "But either way, we've got to approach it the same way. We can't look for external motivations to get fired up to defend a championship."

The Hawks won for the fourth time in five games Tuesday, 109-102 over the Los Angeles Clippers. Joe Johnson scored a game-high 28 points and made two 3-pointers in the final 1:28 to help seal the victory.

"We've been playing pretty good lately, we have not been finishing games the way we hope that we finish -- it's just a few games as of late -- but coming down the stretch of tonight's game, I could tell our guys were mentally focused," coach Larry Drew said.

Atlanta's bench also came through with 32 points, led by Marvin Williams with 11.

"If you're going to get over the hump in the playoffs, you've got keep advancing with the bench," Johnson said. "They've got to play a big role."

The Hawks won't get any minutes Thursday from center Al Horford, who has been out since Jan. 11 with a torn pectoral muscle and says he won't play in the first round against the Celtics. Horford practiced earlier this week and was hoping to return before that series.

Dallas has not played since a 93-83 defeat at Chicago on Saturday, in which veteran guards Jason Kidd and Jason Terry were rested. It's unclear who will suit up Thursday for the Mavericks, who are clearly looking ahead.

We're excited, and there's gonna be 15 other teams excited about the possibility as well," Carlisle said. "And we want to be healthy, we want to make sure we're thinking the right way, we want to make sure we have an edge and to go into this thing -- and when I say 'this thing' I mean the game Thursday and games beyond -- with a mental edge and a real understanding for exactly how we've got to play to be successful."

The Mavericks have won three straight and 19 of 25 against the Hawks.

Kidd might sit out.

[Underdog]

Win!! Or don't... whatever.

[4Dirk1Nowitzki]

lets go mavs? eh who cares its a throw away game. Mavs want okc. Max minutes for vets, 27 minutes.

[Kante]

Just rest...

[sefant77]

I think i better rewatch the crazy game from last season where Kidd pwned Woodson

[EricaLubarsky]

Atlanta still has an NBA team? And they are headed to another first round out? Always surprises in the NBA.

[markus1234]

PG: DoJo
SG: Roddy
SF: Cardinal
PF: Yi
C: Mihnimi

go for the loss. No need to risk injuries.

[4Dirk1Nowitzki]

Originally Posted by markus1234

PG: DoJo
SG: Roddy
SF: Cardinal
PF: Yi
C: Mihnimi

go for the loss. No need to risk injuries.

There will be injuries....

[GhostFace]

Get the W, end the season on a good note. Lets go Mavs.

[nowhereman]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

Atlanta still has an NBA team? And they are headed to another first round out? Always surprises in the NBA.

You do realize they have made it out of the first round the past three seasons, right? Seems a little strange for Mavs fans to rag on ATL for being boring first round fodder, after what we saw here between 2006 and 2010

[Kante]

Originally Posted by sefant77

I think i better rewatch the crazy game from last season where Kidd pwned Woodson

2 years ago, cough cough...

[Underdog]

Jason Kidd sitting out Mavs finale

ATLANTA -- Dallas Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd, the fourth-oldest player in the league this season and the second-oldest set to enter the postseason, will do so with at least seven full days' rest.

The 39-year-old Kidd will not play in Thursday's regular-season finale against the Hawks, coach Rick Carlisle said following the team's morning shootaround.

Carlisle said all other players are expected to be in uniform, although their minutes will be closely scrutinized.

"We have a plan for tonight and we'll execute that plan," Carlisle said.

The Mavs enter Thursday's game as the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference. A loss to the Hawks or a win by the No. 6 seed Denver Nuggets at Minnesota will keep Dallas seventh and pit it against No. 2 seed Oklahoma City, a rematch of last year's Western Conference finals.

A win by the Mavs and a loss by Denver would flip-flop the seedings and send Dallas to Los Angeles to open the playoffs against the Lakers, the team it swept out of the second-round a year ago.

Meanwhile, the Hawks need the win -- or a Boston loss -- to secure home-court advantage in their upcoming first-round series against the Celtics.

Kidd has not played since he logged 22 minutes on April 20 against Golden State. He sat out Saturday's loss at Chicago, and the team had four days off before Thursday's finale. He returned from a groin strain on April 10 and has played in just six games in April.

"I feel great in practice and we've had two great practices the last two days," Kidd said after Wednesday's workout in Dallas. "I feel great physically."

Kidd will finish the season with career lows in points (6.2) and assists (5.5), average minutes (28.7) and games played (48).

He missed four games early in the season with back spasms and six more with a strained calf.

"Hopefully getting this week off for Kidd will really help him," Nowitzki said. "The main thing was that we talked about all season was get in the playoffs and get in the playoffs healthy, and I think for the first time really for a long stretch everybody's available. So, we'll see what we can do in the playoffs."

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/story/...-season-finale

[SMC0007]

Originally Posted by GhostFace

Get the W, end the REGULAR season on a good note. Lets go Mavs.

FYP

[sefant77]

Originally Posted by Kante

2 years ago, cough cough...

Probably i rewatched it last season allready, thats why the mistake

[some1nw]

kidd resting tonight

[some1nw]

i hate when haywood drives inside like that

[tgfan]

This game is a perfect example of why I would not start Haywood against a most teams. Vs the Hawks, you can see that he is so slow as to be almost useless.

[4Dirk1Nowitzki]

hmmm not even worth watching

down 20 already

[sylvestian]

Tanking in a really impressive kind a way

[tgfan]

Crap, Johnson steps into the middle of 4 Mavs, grabs the rebound and lays it in.

[tgfan]

At least Jet is getting in the lane and scoring or drawing the foul.

[EricaLubarsky]

Takes talent to be outs out scored 23 in 10min of play

[some1nw]

i hope dirks ok

[tgfan]

Oh well, if Carlisle ever lets Brandan in the game, maybe we can come back a bit.

[41N]

i hope rick will find a good rotation for the playoffs because our center combination of woody/mahinmi brings NOTHING to the table...

[sefant77]

Will use the time watching youtube goldies and come back later

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfK...feature=relmfu

[some1nw]

lol that was fun xD

[sefant77]

Staaaaaaaaaaack

[b_o_r]

I must say I am concerned by Haywood decline since coming back from injury.

Roddy needs to get it together as well as Marion.

[Underdog]

How 'bout them Mavs?


>crickets<

[Underdog]

None of you are watching, but Dirk's shot looks real smooth right now...

[4Dirk1Nowitzki]

anyone catch Dirks new playoffs commercial? shows some highlights from last years run. nice.

[b_o_r]

that was nasty from Ian

[sefant77]

Damp in the game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uo80VicNJ0

[b_o_r]

don't know why I watched

[sefant77]

i guess because sex wasnt available?!

[tgfan]

I sure hope the playoff threads are livelier than this!