Mavericks at Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers have come crashing back to reality after a three-game winning streak and were blown out at home 120-90 by Utah on Friday. The Trail Blazers will try to brush that one off and get back to the form they showed earlier in the week when they host the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
Portland allowed Utah to shoot 55.3 percent and go 16-for-31 from beyond the arc in the rout, and 3-point defense was a point of concern after the contest. "Just too many 3s allowed," Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard told reporters. "I think the effort was there, we played hard. I just think we had too many miscommunications, letdowns mentally on the defensive end where it was a guy slipping into open 3s. I thought early, we started the game off pretty strong and then let them get going. You let a team get going, they start feeling good and it's hard to stop them. But I think it was us, some mistakes we made, but it was also them. You've got to give them credit." The Mavericks are playing the second game of a back-to-back set after pushing Golden State to the brink before falling 120-116 on Saturday. Rookie small forward Luka Doncic scored 19 points in the loss and is averaging 25.5 over his last four contests, but Dallas has dropped five straight to fall one game below .500.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (Dallas), NBCS Northwest (Portland)
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (15-16): Dallas has allowed at least 120 points in each of its last four games and fell off the pace on Saturday while allowing the Warriors to put up 36 in the third quarter. The Mavericks are getting strong individual play from both Doncic and center DeAndre Jordan, who scored 12 points on Saturday while matching a season high with 23 rebounds. Future Hall-of-Famer Dirk Nowitzki still is working his way into shape after missing nearly the first two months of the season following ankle surgery and logged a season-high 12 minutes off the bench on Saturday.
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (18-14): Portland entered Saturday last in the NBA in 3-point defense, allowing opponents to go off at 37.8 percent from beyond the arc. "We've given up a high percentage of 3s, and they shot them well," Lillard said. "It's the NBA. I don't know how much you can say it's luck. It's the NBA. You give up those looks, guys are going to make them." Lillard is making a high percentage of his own 3-point shots on the other end of the floor as he is 18-for-26 from beyond the arc over his last four games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Trail Blazers SG CJ McCollum is 10-for-31 from the floor over his last two games, including 0-for-6 from 3-point range.
2. Mavericks PG Dennis Smith Jr. (wrist) has sat out each of the four contests and is not expected to play Sunday.
3. Dallas took the first meeting 111-102 at home on Dec. 4 behind 21 points and nine rebounds from Doncic.