The essentials:
Mavericks (28-12) at Wizards (21-17)
1 p.m.
Verizon Center
CSN
Last year:
November 21: Mavericks 107, Wizards 80
December 5: Wizards 106, Mavericks 97
This Year:
November 26: Wizards 110, Mavericks 98
Notable Mavericks numbers this season:
4th in expected winning percentage (.704).
26th in pace factor (88.7 possessions per game).
2nd in offensive efficiency/offensive rating (114.5).
15th in defensive efficiency/defensive rating (107.6).
Key links
Mavs Moneyball
Showboating
Showboating blog preview
Competition Discussion: Dallas
Starting lineups:
Mavericks
PG: Devin Harris
SG: Eddie Jones
SF: Josh Howard
PF: Dirk Nowitzki
C: DeSagana Diop
Wizards
PG: Antonio Daniels
SG: DeShawn Stevenson
SF: Caron Butler
PF: Antawn Jamison
C: Brendan Haywood
Tonight's lines:
Wizards at Mavericks: Mavericks by 3
Over/Under on Big 2 points: 43.2
Alright boys and girls, there's a chance that I might be out of town most of the day so I'm getting the game thread up early in case that happens.
Who's Hot, Who's Not: The Mavericks have won eight of their last nine games, the only loss coming to Salmons, Salmons, SALMONS!!! by 2. However, Washington isn't unfamiliar with facing a hot Dallas team. Last season the Wizards snapped the Mavericks 13 game winning streak and they've won the last two against the Mavs (three if you count the preseason game at the Patriot Center) so the Wiz have that going for them.
Jeeves, get me a log for this fireplace! In the first matchup this season, Caron's outside touch was the major difference. In case you don't remember how hot he was, here's a quick reminder:
Obviously, the Wiz weren't really doing anything special to get him open, he was just Dre Smith hot that night and that opened everyone else up. Someone, whether it be Caron or someone else, needs to step up the scoring tonight if they want to keep up with Dallas.
Keys to the Game: When we played the Mavs in November, they were mired in a losing streak that they've now worked out of, but that doesn't mean that the Wizards still can't use what they did last time to pull out a W. If they can work the offense, and limit penetration from the guards, they can stay competitive. It's hard to see the starters being as hot as they were in the game so the bench is going to have to step it up, if it turns into a shootout.
This is an open thread, so if you're still trying to figure out who Eddie Jones is passing the ball to, leave your guesses here.