CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — The Mavericks new defensive identity was on full display in the teams New Year’s Day win against the Miami Heat. Dallas was effective in their defensive approach, shutting down the Heats offense for most of the first half of the game and placed the finishing touches on their win stopping the Heat in their tracks from going on a late game run. Dallas moved to 2-3 on the season and will hope to improve to .500 on the road in Chicago when they play the Bulls tonight.
It’s not going to be an easy climb for Dallas as the Mavericks will be without All-Star Luka Doncic who is dealing with a left quad contusion which he suffered in the second quarter of the Heat game and is currently listed as day-to-day. This is a tough, but not severe loss as Rick Carlisle believes this injury is not something to be concerned with long term.
“I don’t think this is a long term thing, we just have to see how he feels when he gets up tomorrow and see if tomorrow will be a possibility or not.”
While Luka is out, Carlisle and the Mavericks have immediately adopted the next man up mentality. Dallas will lean on the other players who are available like undrafted rookie guard Nate Hinton who will be active for his first time tonight, and the younger players on their bench.
“Everybody else is available, Nate Hinton will be available for the first time in his career and we’ll go to war with the guys we have available.”
Tonight the Mavericks will find out how much depth they have on their roster and it is an ideal time for players like Josh Richardson and James Johnson to make their presence felt on the Mavericks bench because the Bulls are not a team to overlook. Although this team may be rebuilding they have played teams closer than expected, and the Mavericks currently are under .500 on the road to begin the year.
The Mavericks and the Bulls split the season series last year winning their respective games at home. Luka Doncic recorded a triple-double scoring 38 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists in their first meeting and averaged 30.5 points, 8 rebounds, and 9.5 assists per game against the Bulls in the entire series. Currently the Bulls give up 123 points per game and Dallas has only averaged 106 points per game so far this season.
It will be interesting to see how the Mavericks will attack the Bulls tonight without Luka Doncic.
