Mavericks at Nets
The Dallas Mavericks seek to rebound from a horrific collapse when they visit the Brooklyn Nets on Friday. Dallas blew a 25-point, second-quarter lead while falling 90-84 to the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. Dallas tallied just five points in the third quarter while losing its third straight game. Brooklyn hopes to get shooting guard Joe Johnson back from a foot injury. Johnson has missed the past three games, including the Nets’ 101-97 win over New Orleans on Tuesday.
Brooklyn has struggled at home over the past four-plus weeks. The Nets have lost five of their last eight home outings, including back-to-back losses to the Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies. Brooklyn stands two games behind the New York Knicks in the Atlantic Division standings. Dallas is just 9-20 on the road and Wednesday’s loss to the Grizzlies began a stretch in which seven of eight games are away from home. The Mavericks are five games behind the eighth-place Houston Rockets in the Western Conference and begin a home-and-home against the Rockets on March 3.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Southwest (Dallas), YES (Brooklyn)
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (25-32): Forward Dirk Nowitzki struggled in the loss against Memphis with just 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting. The poor outing followed Nowitzki’s best three-game stretch of the season in which he averaged 25.3 points and 13.3 rebounds. Nowitzki has closed in on his previous All-Star form after struggling earlier in the season upon returning from preseason knee surgery. He is averaging 16 points and 6.6 rebounds. The Mavericks tallied just 46 points over the final three quarters against Memphis after putting 38 on the board in the opening quarter.
ABOUT THE NETS (34-24): Point guard Deron Williams is playing well despite struggling with inflammation in both ankles. Williams matched his season high with 33 points in Tuesday’s win over the Hornets as he scored Brooklyn’s final 11 points. Williams was encouraged by his decisive closing stretch. “It’s something I’ve kind of struggled with this year and I was really successful at it most of my career,” said Williams, “so it feels good to be able to finally have a game like that.” Williams is averaging 23.8 points over the last four games to raise his season average to 17.3.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Dallas has won five of the past six meetings and 19 of the last 23.
2. Nets C Brook Lopez scored 38 points when the Nets beat Dallas in last season’s lone meeting. He is averaging 19.4 points in seven career meetings against the Mavericks.
3. Dallas recorded 10 steals against Memphis to reach double digits in thefts for the third time in six games.