As the season stretches into its second week, the Dallas Mavericks will look to establish some positive momentum in the fifth and final game of their opening home stand on Wednesday against the Indiana
Pacers.
The Mavericks (1-3) are fresh off of a split of a back to back set against the Toronto Raptors and Oklahoma City Thunder. Dallas came out as a desperate team against the Raps on Sunday, taking control of the game in the second half en route to a “not as close as the score would indicate” 139-129 win. Monday brought a different story, as the home team simply could not score on the defending champion Thunder for the majority of the game. However, the script flipped in the fourth quarter, which saw the Mavericks cut a 22-point lead all the way to one before succumbing to the Thunder in a 101-94 decision.
Indiana (0-3) has been potentially the most injury riddled team in the NBA thus far. Beyond Tyrese Haliburton, who will miss the season with that achilles injury he suffered in the NBA Finals, the Pacers have lost a handful of other contributors. It has gotten to the point where they’ve signed Mac McClung to a real NBA contract. Things are bleak! But if we know anything about the Pacers, Rick Carlisle sure knows how to beat the Mavericks. We shall see if he has enough to do so this time around. Until then, here’s a few things to think about as we head into game day.
D’Angelo Russell and the quest for playing time
Over the course of the first four games, it seems like D’Angelo Russell has been the Mavs’ best option at point. However, minutes and opportunities have been hard to come by in the early going. Russell was great against Toronto, but perhaps his best trait against OKC was that he just simply didn’t give the Thunder transition chances. Dallas had just eight turnovers in that contest. You should still expect plenty of point-Cooper, but a sprinkling of Russell hasn’t ever hurt anyone, right?
A bounce back from Flagg
Speaking of the aforementioned rookie, Cooper Flagg had his worst game as a pro in the Mavericks loss to OKC on Monday. Flagg made just one of his ten attempts from the floor. Surely, part of that was due to the bump he took to his left shoulder early in the game, but with no injury designation ahead of the Pacers game, there should be an expectation that Flagg rebounds nicely.
Rick Carlisle: Good at his job
Tricky Rick is at a severe disadvantage here, given the personnel that both teams have available here. However, proper respect must be shown to the chess master in this matchup, as Carlisle has won six out of eight games against Jason Kidd’s Mavericks since Carlisle left in the 2021 offseason. The Mavericks will be heavily favored to take this one off of him, but they still must go and take it
How to watch
This game is slated for a 7:30p CT tipoff from the American Airlines Center in Dallas. KFAA Channel 29, Mavs TV or NBA League Pass will have you covered, depending on where you’re watching from.
