DALLAS, TEXAS — As the first half of the season comes to a close and All-Star weekend approaches, the 17-16 Dallas Mavericks are back above the .500 mark for the first time since January. It started out as a bumpy ride, but the Mavericks steadied the steering wheel to begin the month of February winning 8 out their 12 games scheduled and won their first game in the month of March to turn what was a tumultuous start, into a full blown redemption mission.
That mission will continue tonight at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Mavericks have won the last 6 out of 9 last matchups, but the teams split the season series 1-1 in 2019-2020. The Mavericks won the last matchup 107-97 in OKC. Luka Doncic & Kristaps Porzingis both finished the game with a double-double respectively. Luka Doncic scored 29 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Porzingis scored 14 points and secured 10 rebounds.
All-Star weekend has always been the time for teams to rest their all-star or veteran players and it looks like the Mavericks will do the same at least with one of their star players. It has been reported that Luka Doncic will miss tonight’s game due to back tightness. The last time Doncic missed a game was against the Bulls back in mid January in the midst of their up and down start to the season, so to a degree this is uncharted territory for the Mavericks, but Dallas is in a much different spot when it comes to depth.
The Mavericks have outperformed their last two opponents in bench scoring, scoring 41 bench points against the Nets and 50 bench points against the Magic in their win on Monday, proving how dangerous of a team they can be if they go 8-9 players deep. This team is no “one-trick pony” and has the depth to handle a night without Luka on the floor.
The player who will fill in for Doncic tonight will be Jalen Brunson who has become one of the Mavericks most reliable players off the bench, and is arguably one of the most underrated players in the NBA. Brunson is shooting 52% from the field and 41% from beyond the arc this season and is putting on an efficient display of basketball creating shots and hitting them at a high clip. Brunson who Carlisle has said has the talent to be a starter will see if he can put on another performance like he had Monday where he scored 24 points.
The mission is far from complete, but there have been more good signs over the past month than bad. Encouraging as it seems, the Mavericks still have more work to do and it will be put to the test once they return from the all-star break as Dallas will play 8 of their next 12 games on the road to finish out the March schedule.
