Stoppable force, meet movable object! After falling to the New York Knicks 113-111 Wednesday night, the Dallas Mavericks are currently looking ahead to the second game of their brief three-game stint,
where they will face off against Zion Williamson and the 15-seed New Orleans Pelicans. Technically speaking, this is an NBA Cup game – but lest you delude yourselves into believing this game has stakes, remember that both the Mavericks and the Pelicans are already 0-2 in their previous cup games.
The Pelicans come into town fighting through an absolute slog of a schedule. In the last week, they’ve played the Denver Nuggets, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Golden State Warriors, and the Los Angeles Lakers – three of whom hold top-4 seeds in the Western Conference, and all of whom handled business against the Pelicans. 2-13 heading into their matchup against the Mavs, this Pelicans team is looking for any opportunity to add a notch in the win column.
The Mavericks, meanwhile, have found mixed results over the last several days. They’ve dropped three of their last four, but they did beat a middling Portland Trailblazers squad in overtime on Sunday, and took the Knicks all the way to the brink in their 113-111 loss. Friday’s game against the Pelicans no doubt represents a great opportunity for a busy Mavs squad to build some momentum on the first night of a back-to-back.
For now, Dallas stays swamped with injuries. Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, Caleb Martin, Ryan Nembhard, and Danté Exum all remain out. Cooper Flagg, hopefully, will be back after missing Wednesday with an undisclosed illness. The Pelicans look a bit better, but Jordan Poole, Dejounte Murray, and Karlo Matković have all been ruled out for Friday’s game.
Here are three matchups to keep an eye on going into the Dallas-New Orleans rematch.
Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford vs. Derik Queen
One of the most interesting stories coming out of New Orleans this season is Derik Queen, the rookie center from Maryland for whom the Pelicans front office burned some valuable draft capital in the offseason. Much ink has been spilled as to the merits of this move, but at least from a distance, it looks like it’s paying off: through his first 14 games, Queen is averaging over 10 points and 6 rebounds, and Wednesday night against the Nuggets, he put up a very impressive 30-9-4 despite the loss.
In the Mavericks’ last matchup with the Pelicans, Mavs fans didn’t get much of a chance to see how their one-two center duo would hold up against the rookie big man. Queen hadn’t yet secured the starting spot, and Dereck Lively II was still out with his lingering right knee injury. Going into Friday, that is likely to change, assuming both Lively and Gafford play on the first night of the back-to-back. This is a particularly exciting prospect considering Lively racked up 10 rebounds and three blocks Wednesday against the Knicks and has looked generally much better over his last couple games, even if on a minutes restriction. With Daniel Gafford (who has been fighting through his own ankle injury) back in the mix as well, Friday’s paint battles should at least be worth the price of admission.
Klay Thompson and D’Angelo Russell vs. the three-point line
As has been pointed out many times before, one of Dallas’ biggest troubles this season has been shooting from beyond the arc. Going into Friday night’s game, the Mavericks are hitting on about 31.5 percent of their threes; while this was never going to be a team shooting at volume, the fact that they’re 29th in the league in terms of three-pointers made is one of many factors contributing to their tepid offense.
As a result, Dallas needs shooting from whatever source it can get. Klay Thompson is probably the easiest variable to consider here. He started off the season about as poorly as you could imagine, shooting 25.9 percent from three in October – but since then has found some footing, leveling off at nearly 33 percent through November. D’Angelo Russell is another interesting case study: he’s shot the ball atrociously this season at 25.6 percent from three, but found a hot hand Wednesday night against the Knicks going 4-7 from distance. If both of these guys can keep their rhythm against the Pelicans, and Max Christie can drop in a few as well, there’s reason to believe the Mavs could run their opponent out of the AAC pretty easily. Anything’s possible, right?
The Mavericks offense vs. the Pelicans defense
Okay, enough wishcasting. This one’s probably going to be a mess.
Through their first 14 games, the Pelicans have notched a defensive rating of 123.72. This is good enough to secure the 29th worst defense in the league, beaten out only by the Washington Wizards. But don’t worry, Mavs fans: the Dallas Mavericks are in no position to take advantage of this weakness right now, sporting the single worst offensive rating in the league at 104.83.
This is pretty much the crux of this matchup. The Dallas Mavericks are terrible at putting the ball through the hoop, and they’re playing a team that’s terrible at stopping anyone from putting the ball through the hoop. What else is there to say? They’re both bad, but at least they’re bad in a complimentary fashion, like when a tanker truck crashes into a house fire. It’s not very often you get to see fireworks like that, and hey, that’s reason enough to tune in.
The road ahead
Dallas plays the third and final game of this home-stretch on Saturday, November 22 at 7:30 PM CT, facing off against fellow Southwest Divisioners the Memphis Grizzlies. Then, they board the plane for Miami, where they will begin a four game road trip that runs through the end of November.
How to watch
The Dallas Mavericks host the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday, November 21 at 7:30 PM CT. The game will be will be streamed live on MavsTV as well as broadcast side-by-side on WFAA & KFAA-29. Fans can also tune in at 97.1FM KEGL (English) or at 99.1FM KFZO (Español).
