GDT: Mavs vs Nuggets 02/26/16 7:30pm CT

[Underdog]

Dallas is entering the third of a six-game homestand on which the schedule lines up for it to regain some of the ground it's dropped this month, but wasting the opportune stretch is beginning to seem just as likely given the team's recent play.

Denver is next up Friday night in the span of five of six under-.500 teams visiting with the Mavericks seeking a fourth straight win in the series.

Dallas (30-28) has lost six of eight in February to fall into a group along with Portland, Utah and Houston battling for the Western Conference's last three postseason berths. The homestand started with Sunday's 129-103 win over Philadelphia, then regressed with Wednesday's 116-103 loss to Oklahoma City.

The good news for Dallas is the Nuggets (23-35) are followed to town by Minnesota, Orlando and Sacramento. The bad is the Mavericks' 2-6 span has teams averaging 110.1 points and shooting 47.8 percent. Factor in a minus-7.4 rebounding differential and their own 42.7 percent shooting mark, and their coach is understandably more concerned with game-to-game issues than their place in the West.

"I don't look at the standings that much. I'm looking at how we're playing," coach Rick Carlisle told the team's official website. "I didn't like the way we played in the first and fourth quarters tonight. And those are pretty important quarters, so we've got to pick it up. And these games at home are a precious commodity. Oklahoma City is a terrific team, but we can do better than what we did tonight."

Dirk Nowitzki scored 33 points on 10-of-16 shooting, but the rest of the starting five was 16 of 44. Wesley Matthews had 15 points but was 5 of 16 from the field, and the guard has been limited to 9.7 points on 35.9 percent in his last 12 games.

In three of the last four contests, the Mavericks have been outscored in the fourth quarter by at least seven points. The two before Wednesday were overtime losses after entering the fourth with nine-point leads.

"We've got to finish games," Matthews said. "... We had a little slippage, and that seems to be the trend for us this season. We're too good of a team to be doing that, and this loss hurts. But we've got to get back and get one Friday."

There's been no such trend against the Nuggets while winning four of five, including three straight overall and in Dallas after a 92-81 home win on Nov. 28.

Denver is seeking consecutive victories after Wednesday's 87-81 win at the Los Angeles Clippers -- an unlikely winning scoreline for the Nuggets after giving up an average of 117.0 points on 49.8 percent on a preceding three-game losing streak. The Clippers put up 46 3-point attempts -- more than they'd ever attempted and more than the Nuggets had ever faced -- but only 13 fell as Denver had one of its best defensive efforts of the season by limiting Los Angeles to 35.3 percent overall.

"We have beaten some of the best teams in the NBA when we defend, and this is the first game, post All-Star break, where we defended for four quarters," coach Michael Malone said. "Hopefully we can get back to defending at a high level like we were before the break."

Their 37.8 percent mark at the other end was their second lowest winning shooting effort of the season, and a 6-of-24 effort from 3-point range has them at 30.5 percent from deep over a 4-5 span.

Kenneth Faried, however, had 21 points on 10 of 15 and is shooting 65.1 percent in 10 games this month.

http://espn.go.com/nba/preview?gameId=400828753

[Underdog]

Anyone know what's up with Deron's finger? Did he break it? Is he playing tonight?

[Melonhead]

Tonight feels like a due win. However, over these next 5 games, I only see a 3-2 record. At this point we have to be realistic. We can't even beat all the bad teams anymore.

[SMC0007]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Anyone know what's up with Deron's finger? Did he break it? Is he playing tonight?

http://www.rotoworld.com/recent/nba/1130/deron-williams

Deron Williams (dislocated left ring finger) said he plans to play Friday vs. the Nuggets.
Playing through a dislocated finger is typically a matter of pain tolerance, although head coach Rick Carlisle did say he was concerned about the injury, so there is a small chance Carlisle elects to give Williams the night off. We'll have a better idea on Williams' status following Friday morning's shootaround, so owners can expect an update then. Feb 25 - 2:14 PM
Source: Brad Townsend on Twitter

[CGM]

...Coach C will make the correct substitutions tonight, especially in the fourth quarter... Dirk will be helped on offense, especially by Parsons and Zaza... D-Lee will get more comfortable in Coach C's system, and do the dirty work under the boards, especially by taking care of Faried... in short, the No-ggets will No-gget a win tonight in Dallasland....

Mavs - 102
No-ggets - 91

[StePPe]

Hey Mavs fans,

first of all sorry if it's off topic. I just arrived from Germany here in Dallas to see my idol Dirk live in his living room for the next four games. I travel alone, so I'd like to meet some people before or after the game, so that it isn't as much boring as alone.
Maybe you guys have some recommendations where I can meet other people (preferably Mavs fans) and drink some beer or something like that. Or otherwise one of you is up for meeting me ;-) that would be even easier.

Apart from that I wish you a nice game.

Best regards,
Stephan

[sefant77]

Screw Carmelo and George Karl. Kenyon Martin is still ugly.

Easy win

[yahyes]

That loss against oklahoma was bad. Need to bounce back.

[mac222b]

Originally Posted by StePPe

Hey Mavs fans,

first of all sorry if it's off topic. I just arrived from Germany here in Dallas to see my idol Dirk live in his living room for the next four games. I travel alone, so I'd like to meet some people before or after the game, so that it isn't as much boring as alone.
Maybe you guys have some recommendations where I can meet other people (preferably Mavs fans) and drink some beer or something like that. Or otherwise one of you is up for meeting me ;-) that would be even easier.

Apart from that I wish you a nice game.

Best regards,
Stephan

Sounds great man. Enjoy! Not in Dallas so can't help much in that regard

[Thebo]

Looks like I hadn't missed much by not watching the games for some time. I don't mind Mavs being down, but man... the effort... Hopefully someone wakes them up.

[Underdog]

ZZZzzzZZZzzz

[EricaLubarsky]

/raspberry

[BPo001]

Every time this team takes the floor it looks like their first time playing together. Do we even run plays on offense anymore?

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by BPo001

Every time this team takes the floor it looks like their first time playing together. Do we even run plays on offense anymore?

That's why I wonder about Rick. There is no team offense at all. Just looks like a garbled mess. Sometimes a player steps up and dominates, but usually it's just crappy half-speed isos and sloppy screens

[BPo001]

Dirk is 3-4. Let's keep feeding him.

[BPo001]

I'm really glad Devin is back.

[Underdog]

Well, that was a forgettable quarter of basketball.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Well, that was a forgettable quarter of basketball.

You could copy and paste that in any number of games/quarters this year

[BPo001]

David Lee is making some really good passes to set up guys for good looks. Too bad they can't knock them down.

[EricaLubarsky]

We go 2+ minutes without scoring a lot

[BPo001]

Please get rid of this 3 guard lineup.

[EricaLubarsky]

3 minutes without a point. Bring a jump shooting team is apparently all the rage but our inability to get FTs and our 0* Kelvin shooting isn't a good mix

[EricaLubarsky]

Parsons stops a 4 minute drought with FTs.

[BPo001]

Maybe they should try attacking the basket since everyone is throwing up bricks. Just a thought!

[BPo001]

Matthews needs to work on his handles in the offseason.

[BPo001]

This team stinks.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Great defense so far...

[EricaLubarsky]

What the hell is wrong with this team? We may not score 30 in the half

[ActionJackson]

Another bad start. They should make some changes to the starting line-up.

Lee has been pretty good.

I guess McGee is pretty much finished here?

This is awful to watch.

[Underdog]

Haven't heard the AAC boo this team in a long time...

[BPo001]

Boo birds are out at the AAC.

[ActionJackson]

Any thoughts when Matthews, Williams or Felton manage to score?

[EricaLubarsky]

if we played 48 minutes the way we played the first half of the second, we'd be losing 32-128

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by ActionJackson

Any thoughts when Matthews, Williams or Felton manage to score?

4th if they're still playing. They'll score a lot after the game is already decided.

[yahyes]

Where the F is the seriousness in winning games right now.. Come on now.

[Skywalker]

Not watching the game but just saw the score. Jesus fucking christ.

[EricaLubarsky]

Life!

Don't know why it takes 18 minutes for a professional sports team to actually play like one, but I'll takeit

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by Skywalker

Not watching the game but just saw the score. Jesus fucking christ.

It's worse than the box would indicate... Our body language is deplorable.

[BPo001]

Denver is hot from 3 right now.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by BPo001

Denver is hot from 3 right now.

They're getting good looks