Hornets at Mavericks
THE STORY: New Orleans and Dallas have a lot in common going into their game on the Mavericks' home court Saturday night. Both teams have losing records and are without key players in the backcourt. Eric Gordon, acquired in the trade that sent Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Clippers, could miss three weeks with a knee injury for the Hornets. New Orleans has dropped five straight after winning its first two games of the season. The Hornets are coming off a 96-88 home loss to Denver on Friday. Dallas point guard Jason Kidd will miss the game with a back injury he sustained in Thursday's 93-71 defeat at San Antonio. Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle chose not to play Dirk Nowitzki in the fourth quarter that began with Dallas trailing 66-42. "Some of it is on us, but six games in eight days is a lot for anybody," Nowitzki said in reference to Dallas' early-season schedule.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, CST (New Orleans), Fox Sports Southwest (Dallas)
ABOUT THE HORNETS (2-5): New Orleans was outscored 19-0 in a span of five minutes covering the third and fourth quarters that erased a 63-56 lead Friday. The Hornets recorded a season high for points in a quarter with 32 in the first and then tied a season low with 15 in the second period. New Orleans forward Trevor Ariza has missed the last two games with a strained groin. He's averaging 9.8 points per game.
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (3-5): Dallas defeated Oklahoma City and Phoenix for its first two-game winning streak. Any hope for a third straight victory ended quickly against the Spurs. The Mavericks fell behind by 18 points in the first quarter and trailed 55-29 at halftime. Dallas played like a tired team. Jason Terry scored 12 points and Delonte West added 10, but no one else reached double figures. The Mavericks were 1-of-19 on 3-pointers.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. The Hornets and Mavericks split four their meetings last season. The home team won each game.
2. Nowitzki scored six points in 23 minutes Thursday. It was his lowest point total since Dec. 18, 2009, when he scored five against Houston. Nowitzki was injured and played 10 minutes in that game.
3. Marco Belinelli started at shooting guard in place of Gordon on Friday. He scored 13 points, but made 5-of-13 shots from the field. Gordon averages a team-high 21 points for New Orleans.