Mavericks at Wizards
The Dallas Mavericks managed to deal with the absence of Luka Doncic in wins over the Atlanta Hawks and Indiana Pacers, but his impact on the offense was missed in a home setback against Memphis on Wednesday. The Mavericks are expected to be without Doncic once again when they visit the Washington Wizards on Friday.
Kristaps Porzingis is taking on a larger role with Doncic (ankle) out of the lineup and finished with 32 points and 12 rebounds on Wednesday but had to leave the game after taking an elbow to the face during a key stretch in the third quarter and Dallas couldn't recover before going on to lose 121-107. "We played poorly, and we've just got to be better," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle told reporters. "When our offense sputters and the ball movement isn't where it needs to be, we tend to struggle defensively, as do most NBA teams." The Wizards had a solid homestand going before dropping a 125-117 decision to NBA-worst Golden State on Tuesday and didn't have any good answers for the poor performance. "It wasn't there," Washington coach Scott Brooks told reporters. "We didn't come out to play with the right mind-set, and (Golden State) plays hard. They're a lot like us. They play hard. But tonight, we didn't have the right mind-set. I don't know what we were thinking, but we weren't thinking the right things."
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: FS Southwest, NBCS Washington
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (31-20): Porzingis suffered a broken nose in the third-quarter collision on Wednesday but returned in the fourth after the team got the bleeding stopped and will be evaluated Thursday. "I mean, our energy wasn't great today and they kind of started the second half a little better than us," Porzingis told reporters. "I got hit in the nose, walked out, came back and we were down pretty big, and that was it. We were trying to fight our way back in there, but something wasn't clicking. The ball wasn't moving as well as we wanted to, and our overall energy wasn't the best." Porzingis recorded at least 30 points and 10 rebounds in each of his last three games and went 10-of-20 from the floor on Wednesday while the rest of his teammates shot a combined 32.4 percent.
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (17-32): All-Star snub Bradley Beal had his usual outstanding game with 43 points on Tuesday - his seventh consecutive game scoring at least 34 points - and got some help from rookie forward Rui Hachimura. The Gonzaga product made his first appearance since Dec. 16 after overcoming a groin injury and delivered 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting in 26 minutes. Washington was active at the trade deadline yesterday, sending Jordan McRae to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Shabazz Napier in a swap of guards on expiring contracts and shipping point guard Isaiah Thomas to the Los Angeles Clippers in a three-team deal that brings back guard Jerome Robinson.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Mavericks SG Seth Curry (knee) sat out the last two games and is day-to-day.
2. Wizards PF Moritz Wagner (ankle) played for the first time since Dec. 10 on Monday and scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting.
3. Dallas earned a 108-100 home win over Washington on Oct. 23 behind 34 points from Doncic.