Grizzlies at Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks have suffered back-to-back losses but at least Monta Ellis is pulling out of his scoring slump. Ellis will try to follow up a 36-point effort when the Mavericks host the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday. The Grizzlies are winners of three straight and six of seven, with the lone loss in that span coming at home to Dallas last week, and are playing the second night of a back-to-back after cruising past Orlando 103-94 on Monday.
Ellis slumped to an average of 13.6 points in a five-game span, shooting 50 percent only once with a 9-of-18 effort in the win over Memphis, but broke out with a 16-of-27 showing in the 109-106 loss at New Orleans on Sunday. “I thought it was breathtaking,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle told reporters of Ellis’ outing. “It was just a great performance. It’s just very unfortunate that we couldn’t get the ball in his hands on the last possession.” Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph has delivered some breathtaking performances of his own lately with nine straight double-doubles.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, SportSouth (Memphis), KTXA (Dallas)
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (32-12): Randolph has been on fire since returning to the lineup on Jan. 9 and put up 18 points and 15 boards in the losing effort against Dallas on Jan. 19. The veteran forward handed out a season-high six assists against Orlando on Monday to help offset a tough night for Mike Conley, who slumped to five points on 2-of-8 shooting and did not record an assist. Conley is 5-of-16 from the field in the last two games and has watched his scoring totals decrease from 22 to 12 to nine to five in four games since returning from an ankle injury.
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (30-15): Dallas seemed to have solved some defensive issues while limiting opponents to an average of 86.3 points in three straight wins, but the team had trouble guarding on the interior in losses to Chicago and New Orleans. Center and defensive anchor Tyson Chandler had to be helped off the court during Sunday’s game after banging knees with Pelicans forward Anthony Davis but returned in the fourth quarter after X-rays came back negative. “We’ve just got to be better,” Dirk Nowitzki told reporters. “We’ve got to be better defensively from the start, the way we battled in the fourth. I like our fight, but we’ve got to show it a little earlier.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Mavericks are reportedly the frontrunners to land free agent C Jermaine O’Neal.
2. Memphis G Vince Carter will be playing in Dallas for the first time since leaving in the summer during free agency.
3. Dallas PG Rajon Rondo snapped a string of four straight games in single digits with 17 points on Sunday.