GDT: Mavs @ Nuggets 4PM - 3-6-16

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Dallas' failed attempt at beating a sub-.500 team to complete its homestand has a real possibility to haunt it down the road as it tries to hang on to a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

That's mostly because after visiting the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, the Mavericks won't see another non-postseason contender for nearly three weeks.

Dallas (33-29) is clinging to sixth place in the West one-half game head of Portland, but an extended slump could wind up pushing it out of playoff position altogether. Instead of taking advantage of a Sacramento team playing the second night of a back-to-back and entering 11 games under .500, the Mavericks fell 104-101 on Thursday to finish 4-2 on their homestand.

Chandler Parsons scored 28 points and is averaging 25.3 while shooting 62.3 percent from the field -- 51.9 from 3-point range -- over his last four, with Dallas winning the previous three. It shot just 24.1 percent from 3 against the Kings, though, and fell behind by as many as 14.

"This is a team that we should beat, that we're playing for something much bigger and more than they are," Parsons said. "This is the type of loss that kind of bites you in the butt, that you wish you could have back in a couple of weeks."

Dirk Nowitzki missed all five of his 3s while finishing with 16 points and five turnovers. He's shooting 21.4 percent from long range over his last four.

"We've got to salvage this with what we did well and go to Denver, making sure we take care of that one," said Wesley Matthews, who had four points while hitting 2 of 9 from the floor. "We've got another home stretch that we need to take care of."

Indeed the Mavericks return home for three straight after facing the Nuggets (24-38), but the teams visiting aren't pushovers. The Los Angeles Clippers come in to finish Dallas' back-to-back set Monday, followed by East playoff contenders Detroit on Wednesday and Indiana on Saturday.

The Mavericks then face Charlotte, East-leading Cleveland and NBA-best Golden State before a home-and-home with Portland to complete their difficult stretch. Not until a rematch with Sacramento on March 27 will Dallas play another team currently below .500.

It'll try not to look past the Nuggets after winning the previous two meetings this season at home. The last matchup in Denver finished with the Mavericks winning a wild 144-143 double-overtime thriller April 10 despite a career-high 47 points from Danilo Gallinari.

Gallinari, though, has sat out the last three and is expected to miss at least a month with an ankle injury. That's bad news for an already thin Nuggets team that has dropped six of its last eight.

Denver has lost two of three to open a seven-game homestand after Brook Lopez tapped in a teammates' miss with 0.4 seconds left in overtime to give Brooklyn a 121-120 victory Friday.

Emmanuel Mudiay finished with 25 points and Gary Harris added a career high-tying 21, but the Nuggets allowed the Nets to shoot 50.5 percent from the field.

"Our defense was awful (in the first half). It was a joke how badly we defended," coach Michael Malone said. "Second half was much better, but when are we going to learn our lesson? You cannot pick and choose when you are going to defend."

Parsons scored 27 points in the last meeting, but he's averaging just 12.8 in five career games in Denver.