Game No. 22.
Golden State Warriors at Mavericks
(6:30 p.m., Wednesday, American Airlines Center, Dallas)
TV: TNT
Radio: ESPN 103.3 FM (Univision 1270 AM, Spanish)
About the Mavericks (9-13): This is the first of two games in three days against the Warriors. The Mavericks have won four in a row against Golden State and during that streak they have hit 45.7 percent of their 3-point shots (80-of-175). The four wins have been by an average of 32.5 points (all of them by 20 or more) . . . The Mavericks finally snapped their six-game losing streak with a 122-116 victory at Atlanta on Wednesday night as six players scored 12 or more points, including Tim Hardaway Jr., who had 22 points off the bench, hitting 5-of-10 3-point shots . . . Said Hardaway of coming off the bench: “Whether I’m coming off the bench or not, I’m still getting minutes with the starters. I’m still getting minutes with the bench mob . . . so it really doesn’t matter.” . . . Hardaway also said that, with the Warriors, “That team is fast, they play hard, it’s nonstop movement. We got to keep on fighting. It doesn’t get any easier. We got to find a way to get two wins in a row.” . . . The Mavericks have lost five in a row on their home floor and are just 2-6 for the season at AAC. That has to change for the better as they open a seven-game home stand. Going forward until Feb. 25, nine of their next 10 games will be at AAC and the only one on the road is in Texas (Houston).
About the Warriors (11-10): Mavericks fans will not get to see No. 2 overall draft pick James Wiseman, who is out for a week or so with a wrist injury. Also, their other center, Kevon Looney, is out with an ankle problem. That leaves them not only shorthanded, but flat-out short. There are no other healthy, true centers on the team . . . These are in addition to Klay Thompson and Marquese Chriss, who are out for the season . . . Not having their big men won’t help their rebounding, which is not good to begin with. They come away with more than five fewer rebounds per game than their opponents . . . Of course, the Warriors do still have a pretty decent player in Steph Curry, who is averaging 28.2 points, 6.1 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game. Expect to see the Mavericks try to get the ball out of his hands as much as possible, just as they did Trae Young on Wednesday night. Said Rick Carlisle of Curry: “Not much time to exhale with Steph Curry coming in. It’ll be a different kind of game, but a lot of similarities in those two players.” . . . The Warriors still play fast. But they aren’t afraid to play defense. They limit opponents to 44.3 percent shooting, which is second-lowest in the league. But because they play so fast, opponents still average 113.2 points, eighth-most in the league.
Twitter: @ESefko
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