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The Dallas Mavericks (17-26) have won five of their last eight games as they prepare for a rare tilt Monday afternoon against the New York Knicks (25-17) at Madison Square Garden. The little explosion that Mavericks has is a rare breed – the kind that you know is too good to be true as it unfolds before your eyes.<\/p>\n
The Mavs’ last two wins came against the Utah Jazz in a two-game sweep in which big man Jusuf Nurkic registered a DNP-Coach’s Choice selection. Utah isn’t even trying to hide its tanking, as the mounting losses leave deep tracks up and down the team’s muddy record. Now Dallas’ schedule takes a bleak stretch, with the team’s next 13 opponents sporting a combined 316-224 losing record. Only two opponents in that upcoming stretch have a losing record: the Milwaukee Bucks (17-24) next Sunday and the Charlotte Hornets (15-27) two games later on Jan. 29. A 1-12 stretch is certainly possible if you look forward, even if something like 3-10 has a very slim chance.<\/p>\n
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The last time the Mavericks and Knicks met, New York topped Dallas 113-111 on November 19 at the American Airlines Center behind 28 points and five assists from former Maverick Jalen Brunson. Naji Marshall and D’Angelo Russell led the Mavs in that loss with 23 apiece off the bench.<\/p>\n
Here are three things to look out for as the Mavs prepare to take on the Knicks for the final time this season.<\/p>\n
Klay Thompson has been in the spotlight in the Mavericks’ last two games. He scored a season-high 26 points on 6-of-13 shooting from behind the arc in Thursday’s 144-122 win over the Jazz before pouring in another 23 (tying his previous season high) on 6-of-11 shooting from deep in Saturday’s rematch. It’s been Thompson’s two most successful games as a Maverick thus far, but he’s been playing well for longer than that. He has scored 18 or more in four of his last six games as injuries have wiped out the production usually carried by Cooper Flagg and Anthony Davis.<\/p>\n
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With PJ Washington (his), Daniel Gafford (ankle) and Davis (finger) all out injured for the Dallas Mavericks, Thompson will need to continue his hot streak to help give the Mavericks a chance against the better Knicks playing behind their home crowd in Manhattan. Flagg (ankle) was upgraded to questionable on the NBA’s latest injury report as of Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
This six-game stretch has done wonders for Thompson’s trade value. It remains to be seen if his progress can help lift the injury-plagued Mavs to anything close to competing against a quality opponent for the first of 13 tough games ahead.<\/p>\n
The Mavs may catch New York at a good time, though. Brunson went to the bench minutes into the Knicks’ 112-101 loss at the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday with an ankle injury and has not played in the team’s last two losses to the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns. New York hit a rough patch in the new year, losing eight of the team’s last 10 games dating back to Dec. 31.<\/p>\n
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New York is a shell of itself without Brunson’s ability to create his own shot and the high level he looks for his teammates, but some deeper issues may begin to show in the new year. Complaints about the work done by head coach Mike Brown are beginning to surface, and Brunson’s ankle injury is increasing the anger surrounding one of the NBA’s most scrutinized teams.<\/p>\n
The Knicks had not submitted an updated injury report to the NBA as of 2:15 pm CDT Sunday. If Brunson isn’t available on Monday, that changes the tenor of the matchup significantly. Depending on Flagg’s availability, Mavs fans can talk a bit optimistic here, even though backup Miles McBride has stepped up admirably in the Knicks’ last two games. He scored 25 points and dished out six assists in a loss to the Warriors and had 23 and five against the Suns.<\/p>\n
In each of the Mavs’ last three wins, the team has shot 41% or better from three-point range. There is no secret sauce here. If the Mavs shoot better, they give themselves a chance to win. If they don’t, they look clueless.<\/p>\n
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Flag or no Flag, Davis or no Davis, Brunson or no Brunson, Dallas must match their opponent from beyond the arc. Monday’s game will be no different. If the Mavericks can limit turnovers and shoot well, they will be in this game. If they don’t, they won’t.<\/p>\n
A little extraneous analysis is needed to identify this most frustrating group.<\/p>\n
The Mavericks and Knicks will tip off at 4 pm CDT on Monday from Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. The game will be televised locally on NBC and will be broadcast on Peacock.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Dallas Mavericks (17-26) have won five of their last eight games as they prepare for a rare tilt Monday afternoon against the New York Knicks (25-17) at Madison Square Garden. The little explosion that Mavericks has is a rare breed – the kind that you know is too good to be true as it …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3692"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3694,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3692\/revisions\/3694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}