The Dallas Mavericks (28-25) head out on the road for the first game of a long road trip. Saturday night they face the Golden State Warriors (26-26). As the teams cruise towards the trade deadline and the All-Star break, every win matters. Due to volume of games played, the Mavericks sit at fourth in the west, a thousanth of a winning percentage point ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers. The Warriors, despite their .500 status, sit way down at ninth in the West. It’s a reminder of how tight this packed Western Conference is. Here’s the main things to know about this game.
- WHO: Dallas Mavericks at Golden State Warriors
- WHAT: Holding on to their spot in the West
- WHERE: Chase Center, San Francisco, CA
- WHEN: 8:00 p.m. CST
- HOW: ABC
The injury front is pretty brutal for Dallas. Luka Doncic is already out, we knew that coming into this game but Mark Stein reported today that Dallas may hold Doncic out beyond this contest with his ailing heel. Davis Bertans is out, as is Christian Wood and Maxi Kleber. Spencer Dinwiddie will play, which is huge for Dallas.
For the Warriors, Steph Curry is good to go, but as of this writing (full disclosure, I am writing this early in the afternoon), Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and Patrick Baldwin are all questionable with varying issues.
This is going to be an uphill climb for Dallas, there’s no way around that. The Mavericks have yet to win without Luka Doncic and the Warriors are VERY good at home, winning 19 times in 26 tries. So if the Mavericks pull this one off, that’ll be an impressive win.
We’ll have our usual after this game. To be honest a lot of us are just trying to get past the NBA Trade Deadline then to All Star Break. This season’s been a bit of a grind.