DALLAS — After a stinging home loss to Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday, the Dallas Mavericks (27-16, 5th in Western Conference) head to the Pacific Northwest to face the Portland Trail Blazers (19-26, 10th in Western Conference) in front of a national audience. The 9:30 PM tip-off will follow the announcement of the NBA All-Star game starting lineups on TNT prior to the evening’s matchups.
Here are four points to watch for:
Emotional Baggage
Dallas is rolling into Portland with somber eyes following the devastating loss of Dwight Powell to a ruptured Achilles tendon injury that will end his season. The starting frontcourt was back to full strength for the first time since December 29, with Powell flanking Kristaps Porzingis. Powell was part of the pre-game assault on Porzingis, leveling him with a couple of playful shots to the chest.
The dopamine rush provided by Porzingis’ return after missing ten straight games with right knee soreness quickly eroded. With three minutes left in the 1st quarter, Powell drove to the basket. A wince-inducing tremor was noticeable in his right leg, and the entire American Airlines Center felt it.
The Mavericks confirmed Wednesday what we all saw in real-time, Luka Doncic’s pick-and-roll partner is out for the season with a ruptured Achilles and faces a long road back that will more than likely reach into 2021. Look for the Mavs to respond.
Shooters shoot
We are accustomed to the greatness of Dame Trillard, he single-handedly ended the Thunder era with a dagger and a wave in the first round of last year’s playoffs. The gentleman’s sweep sent the Thunder home, Russell Westbrook to Houston, and Paul George into Kawhi’s D.M’s.
Lillard is right on Luka’s heels for the league’s scoring race, entering the game in 5th place (27.9 PPG) among all NBA players. Doncic is averaging a shade under 30 in his 2nd season, with only Trae “Doncic trade” Young, the Greek Freak Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the Beard James Harden in front of him. Most recently, Lillard is coming off a game where he dropped a career-high 61 points on the depleted Golden State Warriors
Portland has based their franchise hopes for the next half-decade on the buckets duo of Lillard and backcourt sidekick C.J McCollum (21.5 PPG, 37.8% from 3), and Carmelo Anthony won’t be waiting to let it rip either in his Pacific Northwest revival. Porzingis finished with 10 points in his return and selflessly blamed himself for the team losing to the Clippers. A return of the Unicorn’s shooting touch will be needed to neutralize the Portland offense.
Blaze it?
With Powell’s starting minutes now up for grabs, the Mavs will look to Dirk’s son (come on we all know it) Maxi Kleber to pick up the load while they wait to pull another body into the fold.
Everyone loves Boban, but a dash of Bobi should be realistic as the big man should be kept under ten minutes a game or his deficiencies will be exposed.
Former Mavs “Big Fish” target Hassan Whiteside had 18 rebounds for the Blazers against the Mavericks in their last meeting and may be on the trading block. Whiteside is in the final year of the $98 million contract he signed with Miami in the summer of 2016, and Portland’s shedding of Kent Bazemore’s contract along with the impending return of Jusuf Nurkic may signal yet another call to the moving truck for Whiteside.
Whiteside is currently 3rd in the league in total rebounds at 14.1 per game but also makes a lot of bonehead decisions. While his style of play may not entirely mesh with the Mavs needs, their desire to keep the books clean for Summer shopping may limit the Powell replacement options to buyout candidates, expiring deals, and retreads. Joakim Noah anyone?
Luky Limelight
The game is on national television, a setting that the Mavericks will continue to find themselves more and more in with Lukamania in full effect. The pundits are talking about him on the shortlist for league MVP. Jerry West is already on record as thinking he will be the best maverick EVER. He narrowly missed making the all-star team his rookie year and may even be named as a captain prior to the game, with the NBA announcing team captains and starters at 7 p.m. ET on TNT.
Even if LeBron James takes the Captain spot given to the top overall vote-getter in each conference, Doncic is a lock for the starting lineup. Dallas will be coming into Portland with their five-game winning streak coming to an end against Kawhi and the Clippers. Doncic barely missed out on yet another triple-double, finishing with a stat line of 36 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.
Doncic leads the NBA in triple-doubles with 12, and with 20 in his young career, is one triple-double shy of tying Jason Kidd’s all-time franchise record, which took Kidd 500 games to achieve. A kind reminder to the MFFL’s that Doncic is still just 20 years old and is halfway through his sophomore season.
Do you think the Mavericks will be able to bounce back in Portland? Share your thoughts on the Mavs with Irvin on Twitter @Twittirv.
