Grizzlies at Mavericks
Dallas Mavericks All-Star guard Luka Doncic is sidelined with an ankle injury so power forward Kristaps Porzingis is stepping up his performance. Porzingis will look for his third straight 30-point effort when Dallas hosts the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.
Porzingis recorded season-high scoring outputs in each of his past two appearances with 35 points in Friday's loss to the host Houston Rockets and 38 during Monday's 112-103 road win over the Indiana Pacers while starring with Doncic sidelined. "That's something in the future I want to figure out, how I can be effective also when Luka is playing," Porzingis told reporters. "It's something we've been working on. I'm in a good rhythm now and I want to keep it going. I think we're playing pretty good basketball, we're moving the ball, playing aggressive." Memphis won five of its last six games and is opening a three-game road trip after producing a 96-82 win over the Detroit Pistons on Monday. "(It) was an ugly game," Grizzlies rookie point guard Ja Morant told reporters. "You have to win those games, but it just shows that we can go and play both ways and get stops and score and close out a win."
TIME: 8:30 p.m. ET. TV: FS Southeast, FS Southwest
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (25-25): Center Jonas Valanciunas posted 26 points and 17 rebounds against the Pistons for his 24th double-double of the season as he outplayed Detroit big man Andre Drummond. "There's not a lot of big guys left," Valanciunas said afterward. "It's always fun to go against a big guy. (Drummond's) a good guy. He's a good player and it's just a pleasure for me to go against him." Shooting guard Dillon Brooks registered 15 points and he has scored in double digits in six straight games.
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (31-19): Doncic will miss at least three more games before he returns and his absence changes the look and opens the floor for some of his teammates, like Porzingis. "Our style changes - a more free-flowing style," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said of being without Doncic. "We call less plays. We've done this enough now that guys are getting a feel on how to play with each other when Luka is out, which is good when Luka is out. But we need Luka back." Porzingis also collected 12 rebounds in each of his last two games and matched his career best of six 3-pointers against Indiana.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Mavericks knocked down 18 3-pointers while recording a 138-122 road win over the Grizzlies on Nov. 9.
2. Memphis PF Brandon Clarke had just four points against Detroit after averaging 13.5 over the previous four games.
3. Dallas G J.J. Barea (ankle) departed the game against the Pacers and is unlikely to play Wednesday.