Mavericks at Cavaliers
The Dallas Mavericks snapped their five-game slide against one hot Eastern Conference team and will try to make it two straight wins when it faces another top team from the opposite conference. The Mavericks are in a battle for one of the final three playoff spots in the West and will visit the East-leading Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.
Dallas is through the first four of a nine-game stretch that will see it play all teams that are battling for playoff spots, and Monday’s 107-96 win at the Charlotte Hornets marked the first victory in that span. The road gets even tougher over the final half of the nine games, with a pair against the NBA-best Golden State Warriors sandwiched around a home-and-home set against the Portland Trail Blazers after wrapping things up in Cleveland. The Cavaliers squandered an opportunity for a 4-0 road trip with a 94-85 loss at Utah on Monday. “It leaves a bad taste in your mouth, naturally,” Cleveland forward Kevin Love told reporters. “It’s bittersweet. We wanted to go 4-0, but three out of four on a road trip where we played two back-to-backs is not bad. We seek perfection, we always want to be better.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Dallas), FSN Ohio (Cleveland)
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (34-33): Dallas had allowed 14 straight opponents to go over 100 points before holding the Hornets under the century mark. “The defense was great,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle told reporters. “You know, we just had really good energy, focus and togetherness. We were playing relatively small, so we needed everybody to be vigilant about being on the boards. We have to play the persistence game. That’s our best chance to win, and we did that (Monday).” Carlisle inserted 6-1 guard Raymond Felton into the starting lineup over 6-11 center Zaza Pachulia and suggested that lineups will be determined game-to-game going forward.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (47-19): Cleveland buried 18-of-37 from 3-point range during one of its most impressive performances of the season in a 114-90 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday but could not muster the same effort on Monday. The Cavaliers went 10-of-42 from beyond the arc against the Jazz, and shot selection was an issue after the game. “We had our chance,” Cleveland star LeBron James told reporters. “We definitely settled for the outside shot a little bit too much (Monday) and didn’t get into the paint. They did a great job of capitalizing off our mistakes.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Mavericks PF David Lee has scored in double figures in seven of 10 games since being signed late last month.
2. Cavaliers PG Kyrie Irving is 5-of-23 from 3-point range in the last three games.
3. Cleveland earned a 110-107 win at Dallas on Jan. 12 behind 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists from James.