Through injury and apathy, the Dallas Mavericks (37-39) continue to play basketball.
The Atlanta Hawks (36-38) will visit American Airlines Center on Wednesday, allowing the Mavericks to right one or two wrongs from Monday’s 113-109 loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
If you’re finding it hard to get all the way up for a matchup between two teams with losing records, both of whom are on their way to the playoffs, you’re not alone. Baseball season is here, the NCAA Tournament is about to crescendo and there’s touchable grass all around you, after all.
We’re not trying to convince you this game between the Mavericks and Hawks means much. The end of this no-good, very bad regular season is a bona fide choose-your-own experience.
The Hawks will travel to Dallas on the heels of Tuesday’s matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers. Rookie and 2024 number-one overall draft pick Zaccharie Risacher scored a season and career-high 36 points in Sunday’s 145-124 win at the Milwaukee Bucks. The Hawks were locked in a tight contest with Portland at the time of this writing.
The Mavs, meanwhile, have been waiting at home since Monday’s loss to the Nets and will have a distinct rest advantage when the Hawks come to town for a third game in four days. They had won eight of their last 12 games before Tuesday’s game against the Blazers.
Lively back at practice
The Dallas Morning News reported on Tuesday afternoon that Dereck Lively II was a full participant in that day’s practice. Later in the evening, he was upgraded to questionable for Wednesday’s game against the Hawks. He also had a questionable designation for Monday’s loss to Brooklyn before sitting out. Monday was fellow center Daniel Gafford’s first game back from injury, and he led the Mavs with 17 points in the loss to the Nets.
Lively’s return, whenever that may come, will put the Mavs at the healthiest the team will get for the remainder of the year, missing just Kyrie Irving (knee), Olivier-Maxence Prosper (wrist) and Dante Exum (hand), all of whom are likely out for the rest of the season with their respective ailments. Dallas has been plucky while in poor health, though their margin for error is thin. The loss to Brooklyn saw the Mavs fall victim to shooting variance, as the Nets sunk 20 from beyond the arc in the win.
The backbone of the backcourt
Without the services of Brandon Williams off the bench in the backcourt, the combination of Spencer Dinwiddie, Cormac Karl “Max” Christie and Jaden Hardy will have to bring Dallas home down the stretch. Mavs head coach Jason Kidd obviously trusts Dinwiddie as the primary playmaker, and he’s responded admirably at times.
With the return of the Dallas bigs, the Mavs are thinnest now at guard. Ball handling and ball security comes at a premium, and the Mavs are making do with what they have, staying alive in the play-in chase as much because of the ineptitude of their competitors as their own skillset. Dallas will be favored to win against the Hawks and the team can likely survive one more disappointing loss on their way to the play-in. The key to winning may lie in the frontcourt, but can the backcourt hold it together?
