Mavs-Heat preview: Looking for some new momentum

If Jason Kidd has any hats with rabbits in them or some other trick up one of his sleeves, now would be a good time to pull out all the stops.

The Mavericks probably need four wins in their final five games to give themselves a serious shot at the play-in tournament. Win three times and they will need big help from multiple teams.

All three wins the rest of the way does is take them to a below-.500 finish at 40-42.

With tiebreakers being what they are, the Mavericks would need either the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Los Angeles Lakers or the New Orleans Pelicans to fall completely apart to have a chance for the play-in with 40 victories.

So just win, baby, becomes the Mavericks motto and it has to start Saturday at the Miami Heat as the five-game Eastern trip continues. The Mavericks are 1-2 so far on the journey.

If they needed to clear their heads, then they had the perfect opportunity with two off days in Miami. Maybe the salt air will help rejuvenate them.

But the biggest thing is they simply must pay more attention to rebounding. They have been beaten on the glass in five of the last six games. Not surprisingly, they are 1-5 in those games.

The Mavericks also have to be better at playing with leads. They have lost 13 games this season when they’ve had a double-figure advantage at some point in the game. Win just five of those and they would be already preparing for whoever they would be playing in the playoffs.

Here’s what else to watch for as the Mavericks try to get some momentum going against the Heat.

• The Mavericks are going to finish with a losing record against the Eastern Conference opponents. They are 10-17 with tonight’s game, Sunday’s at Atlanta and next week’s visit to American Airlines Center by Chicago left. They are a deplorable 3-10 on the road against East foes.
• Tim Hardaway Jr. has a career-best 25 games with at least four three-pointers made. That’s tied for third most in a season in Mavericks’ history.
• The Mavericks have won two in a row and four of the last five against Miami, including a 115-90 pounding at AAC in January. The Mavericks have won their last two visits to South Beach.
• The Heat narrowly lead the Southeast Division and are seventh in the Eastern Conference standings. They lost Wednesday at New York 101-92 when point guard Kyle Lowry (knee) sat out.
• Don’t expect a ton of points in this one. Miami is the lowest-scoring team in the NBA and has the second-slowest pace. The Mavericks play at the third-slowest pace in the league.
• The Heat have three players averaging better than 20 points per game: Jimmy Butler at 22.6, Bam Adebayo at 20.7 and Tyler Herro at 20.3.
• DALLAS MAVERICKS (37-40) at MIAMI HEAT (40-37)
• When: 6:30 p.m., Saturday.
• Where: Miami-Dade Arena, Miami.
• TV: Bally Sports Southwest/NBA TV.
• Radio:1 FM, 99.1 FM Zona MX (Spanish).

Twitter: @ESefko