Thursday night’s home game against the New Orleans Pelicans is the start of a tough stretch of playoffs — eight straight against teams .500 or better, all battling for a playoff spot in the fiercely competitive Western Conference.
The Mavericks have had serious injury and defensive struggles in January, with the Pelicans struggling. Losing two of their best players in Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, the division rival went 3-13 for the month and snapped a nine-game losing streak after finishing near the top of the Western Conference at 23-13 in December.
Here are a few things to check out!
More video game numbers from Luca
In Monday night’s game against the Detroit Pistons, Luka Doncic scored 53 points for the rest of his team’s 58 points, the fifth-highest average against the Pelicans in his career, including 49 last year. Prior to this season, four of his career highs were in February. We know that Luca often makes heaters, as the team had a seven-game winning streak at the end of December, and the above signs point to another.
January was a little hit or miss when it came to his recent ankle injury, with Luca seemingly weighed down by carrying the team’s creative burden. With a seemingly settled, main scoring partner in Christian Wood, one can feel safe to finish on Luca’s point.
The injured, but talented, Pelicans
As mentioned earlier, the Pelicans are struggling but still have plenty of athleticism and scoring punch. The Mavericks are lucky to have Zion Williamson out, because there is no player on earth, other than Giannis Antetokoumpo, who is more capable of solving their rim protection weaknesses. Still, Brandon Ingram is back after missing 29 games. He’s shaken off the rust and shot poorly, but he and C.J. McCollum will put up plenty of points on their own, and this could easily be the game where Ingram looks like himself.
Despite losing to McCollum as the only member of the Big Three, the Pelicans are deep elsewhere, as aging, young athletes often pose problems for the older, slower Mavericks. They’re deep on the wing after acquiring them in recent drafts (see Trey Murphy III, personal favorite 48-40-92 shooting split) and Jonas Valenquinas is the exact type of injury Dwight Powell could use on the board. .
Spencer Dinwiddie’s balancing act
Spencer Dinwiddie did a fantastic job filling in for Luca, who was out for two games, scoring 71 points over the two games, including 11 threes and an impressive 24(!) free throw attempts. Luca then struggled mightily in his first game back, going 5-of-16, in his more than month-long shooting streak.
The talk of playing next to Luke is often vague, but it’s true that basketball players often benefit from the momentum, urgency and aggression that comes with leading an offense for an entire game. Dinwiddie leads the bench without Luca, and he hasn’t always. That’s what he said. bladder. How will he find a way to become the player we’ve seen leading with Luca or the bench? This question is very important nowadays; We’ve already seen a game where Luka is close to matching his team’s total points total, and Christian Wood’s return is a week or so away.
How to look
If you’re outside of the DFW area, you can watch on Bally Sports Southwest or NBA League Pass. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
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