The Dallas Mavericks will be without two-time All-Star point guard Luka Doncic when they hit the road to battle the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight at 6 at Paycom Center.
Doncic is dealing with soreness in his left ankle during Friday’s 13-point loss to the Indiana Pacers. Meanwhile, the Mavs holding out hope they’ll be able to correct their three-point shooting woes against the Thunder.
Since making 52.9 percent of their shots (18-of-34) from downtown during a Dec. 1 game in New Orleans, the Mavs are just 50-of-185 from three-point range for only 27 percent.
“We have to be better,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We have to take responsibility at some point that we have to make shots.
“We’re getting the ball in the paint and making the extra pass. It’s that we’re not making shots.”
The Mavs converted just 4-of-29 buckets from beyond the three-point arc against the Pacers. That snapped their NBA record of sinking at least five three-pointers in 435 straight games dating back to when the streak started on March 9, 2016 when the Mavs made 9-of-30 treys during a 102-96 loss to Detroit when Reggie Bullock was playing for the Pistons.
PREVIEW
MAVERICKS (12-13) AT OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER (8-17)
Time: 6 p.m.
Place: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK
TV: BSSW
Radio: The Eagle, 97.1 FM; Univision 99.1 FM (Spanish)
About the Mavericks: This is the finale of a three-game road trip for the Mavs before they return home to open a brief two-game home stand Monday against the Charlotte Hornets and Wednesday against the Los Angeles Lakers. . .The Mavs are 1-1 on this road trip after winning in Memphis (104-96) last Wednesday and losing in Indiana (106-93) this past Friday. . .The Mavs will be without superstar point guard Luka Doncic tonight. Now in his fourth season, Doncic re-aggravated his sprained left ankle in the second half of the loss to the Pacers. It’s the same ankle which caused him to miss the Nov. 17 and Nov. 19 games in Phoenix, the Nov. 21 contest at the LA Clippers, and the Dec. 4 home game against Memphis. “I probably shouldn’t have played in the fourth quarter,” Doncic said, referring to the game against Indiana. “I wasn’t feeling very good.”. .Center Willie Cauley-Stein will miss his eighth straight game due to personal reasons, while guard Sterling Brown will sit out his fourth consecutive game because of soreness in his left foot. . ..The Mavs haven’t exactly shot the ball well from three-point range lately. They got out of the game against the Pacers converting just 4-of-29 buckets from downtown for only 13.8 percent. That left Doncic to say maybe they should start thinking about shooting closer to the basket. “We have a lot of open shots,” Doncic said. “We’re just not making them. I don’t know why. We just got to maybe attack more, shoot less threes. I think we just got to think paint first, then shoot threes. I took a lot of bad threes. We should think rim first.”
About the Thunder: Misfortunate is the operative word when it comes to describing the Thunder, who have lost 10 games this season by 12 or more points, including six by 21 or more points. That also includes that rather humiliating 73-point loss (152-79) to the Memphis Grizzlies back on Dec. 2. That 73-point deficit was the largest loss by any team in the history of the NBA. . .This is the second of a four-game home stand for Oklahoma City. The Los Angeles Lakers kicked off this OKC home stand with a 116-95 defeat of the Thunder this past Friday. The Thunder will finish this home stand when they host the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday and the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday. . .Rookie guard Tre Mann came off the bench to tally a career-high 19 points in 28 minutes in the game against the Lakers. Mann was 8-of-15 from the field and 3-of-8 from downtown. . .The only teams in the NBA with fewer wins than the Thunder are the Orlando Magic with five and the Detroit Pistons with four. And the only teams with a worst plus/minus scoring differential than OKC (-9.3) are the Magic (-10.4) and Pistons (-9.7). . .The Thunder franchise – which includes games involving the Seattle Supersonics – are 50-34 all-time in home games played against the Mavs. That includes a 15-9 record against the Mavs during games played in Oklahoma City. . .The Thunder are led by point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (21.4 ppg, 5.0 apg), forward Luguentz Dort (17.3 ppg) and shooting guard Josh Giddey (10.6 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 5.9 apg).
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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