Mavericks at 76ers
The Dallas Mavericks wiped away the sting of two straight losses with an impressive win at Washington on Wednesday and are hoping they still have enough time to track down the Denver Nuggets for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference. The Mavericks will try to make it back-to-back wins when they visit a tough young Philadelphia 76ers squad on Friday.
Dallas failed to reach 100 points in either of its previous two games and shot 36.5 percent from the field in a 100-78 loss at Toronto on Monday before finding its shooting form and locking down on the defensive end late against one of the top teams in the East to pull out a 112-107 win on Wednesday. “You know, we’ve struggled on the road this season, but the way we lost in Toronto was just really frustrating," Mavericks forward Harrison Barnes told reporters. "We didn’t shoot it well, but we just didn’t put up much force defensively and kind of let them get whatever they wanted. In the first half, it was kind of looking like that again. And we just bared down defensively in the second half and were able to get some stops." The 76ers gave the NBA-best Golden State Warriors all they could handle before falling 106-104 in the finale of a four-game road trip on Tuesday and continue to fight despite being well out of the race. Rookie forward Dario Saric is emerging as a Rookie of the Year candidate and a potential building block for the franchise as Philadelphia gives all its young players plenty of minutes.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Dallas), CSN Philadelphia
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (29-38): Dallas is hoping to make a run at the Nuggets and only has 15 games left in the regular season, with nine of those games on the road and five of the six home games coming against teams with a current winning record. The Mavericks, who poured in 39 points in the fourth quarter in Wednesday's win, still believe they can close the gap thanks to the superior play of Dirk Nowitzki and Harrison Barnes. Nowitzki was one of the few players on the roster to avoid a shooting slump recently and is shooting 54.3 percent over the last five games while Barnes led the way with 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting in Wednesday's triumph.
ABOUT THE 76ERS (24-43): Saric scored at least 25 points in three of the last four games after failing to reach the mark in any of his first 63 NBA contests and rounded out his line with 25 points, seven rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks in Tuesday's loss. The budding star became a go-to player when Joel Embiid was shut down for the season and Ersan Ilyasova was traded away, and now he is trying to learn to win along with the rest of his teammates. "Sometimes it's hard, you're so close," Saric told reporters. "We are a young team. Sometimes, you need like some kind of experience, just lots of these kinds of games. We don't have that. We are a young team. Of course, we play a lot of close games, but it's not same."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. 76ers C Jahlil Okafor is averaging 18.8 points in the last four games.
2. Mavericks SG Wesley Matthews (right calf strain) sat out Wednesday and is day-to-day.
3. Dallas topped Philadelphia 113-95 at home on Feb. 1 behind 22 points and six assists from SG Seth Curry.