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  • Mavericks at Hawks

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    lethalweapon3

     

    “Let’s kick off Black History Month in style!”

     

    You really can’t expect much more than you’ve gotten out of Rick Carlisle and the Dallas Mavericks. They come into Atlanta tonight (8:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast, Fox Sports Southwest) aiming for their fourth win in five games, the sole exception being a blowout loss to a red-hot Golden State. They’ll also look to snap a four-game losing streak against the Hawks head-to-head.

    Amid a stretch of five games in seven days before the All-Star break, Carlisle is running a master-class in conserving player energies. Future Hassel-HOFer Dirk Nowitzki sat out from yesterday’s home game vs. Phoenix, in advance of tonight’s contest. While his 44.8 FG% is the second-lowest of his storied career, Dallas (28-22) is a stout 12-3 when Dirk (5-for-12 2FGs, 1-for-8 3FGs vs. ATL on Dec. 9) contributes at least 20 points in a game.

    Former Hawk and almost-All-Star Zaza Pachulia (career-best 10.8 RPG) rested a sore leg for three games last week, then returned and picked up right where he left off (12.5 PPG, 13.5 RPG in wins versus Brooklyn and Phoenix to wrap up a homestand). He and Dirk are adequately running a Statler and Waldorf frontcourt, delivering plenty of silly media soundbytes while betting which player can log the most dunks by season’s end (Z-Pac’s up 9-4, for those keeping score at home).

    The one player who was a wild card at the start of the year due to the prior season’s injury, free agent acquisition Wesley Matthews, leads the team in minutes played. Wes is mired in a shooting slump (37.6 FG%, 28.4 3FG% in last 15 games) but insists he’ll play his way out of it. “Look, he’s fine,” Carlisled remarked after yesterday’s game. “I’m not going to fistfight him tomorrow to try to get him to sit out.”

    The Mavs have a well-seasoned roster whose top 8 players in minutes-per-game are aged 27 and up, and six of them (excepting Matthews and swingman Chandler Parsons) are at least 30. One of them, former Hawk Devin Harris, has missed the past several games and was left back in Big D to heal his sprained toe.

    Mark Cuban is more interested in fielding a League of Legends team than pulling any moves as the trade deadline approaches. “Nothing is really tempting to us,” Cuban told Mavs.com recently. Injecting youth for the sake of youth ahead of the playoffs only threatens Dallas’ team chemistry.

    Collectively, Dallas doesn’t turn the ball over (12.3 TO%, 4th-lowest in NBA), as only DFW-raised Deron Williams exceeds two TOs per game. They set up lots of three-point shots (28.0 3FGAs per game, 4th in NBA) and tend to make their free throws (10th in NBA for FT%).

    The one bad free throw shooter among their top scorers in Parsons (61.6 FT%), who is bouncing back in other aspects of his offensive game (January: 16.1 PPG, 51.0 FG%, 43.8 3FG%). Much like Atlanta, they shy away from crashing the offensive glass (20.4 O-Reb%, 29th in NBA), save for easy opportunities for Pachulia or JaVale McGee.

    Unlike Atlanta, the Mavs do clean up on the defensive end with a focus on rebounding (34.2 D-Rebs per game, 3rd in NBA) over blocks (28th in NBA) and steals (25th in NBA). Altogether, they’re smack in the middle of the league (15th in NBA) in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Yet they’re over-achieving at 10th in the overall NBA standings. That’s because they have veteran leadership that actually leads, a no-nonsense coach armed with a contract extension that still won’t accept mediocrity, and a vocal owner that’s willing to pull strings and take risks at the first sign of slippage.

    Dallas will try to make more hay out of the turnovers they produce against Atlanta. In their last meeting in mid-December, the Mavs committed just 9 turnovers to the visiting Hawks’ 15, yet were outscored off turnovers by a 17-16 margin as the Hawks wrested back the lead in the final three minutes to prevail, 98-95.

    Bench players like J.J. Barea (0-for-6 FGs vs. ATL on Dec. 9) and Dwight Powell did light work in yesterday’s game, Jeff Hornacek’s swan song in Dallas, and will be expected by Carlisle to help Dallas push the pace. Raymond Felton filled into the starting lineup in place of Nowitzki and recorded six assists (zero TOs) as the Mavs went small against the Suns.

    As for the Atlanta Hawks (27-22), losers in their last three games, and in five of their last six? When they decide to give their fans something worth writing about, we’ll mention it.

    Let’s Go Hawks!

    ~lw3


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