San Antonio Spurs (4-4) at Dallas Mavericks (8-3)
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
The Dallas Mavericks have revenge on their minds and a cold feeling for their opponent on Wednesday night, as the Southwest Division rival San Antonio Spurs enter the American Airlines Center.
(Photo by D. Clarke Evans/NBAE via Getty Images)
Mavs still taste the bitterness of a 92-83 loss to the Spurs
The Mavs, back home after going 3-1 on a four-game road trip, welcome the Spurs after falling 92-83 in San Antonio just one week ago. It was the previously mentioned one loss for Dallas during the nomadic stretch, before the Mavericks reeled off three straight in the win column. But it is still the one game that sticks out in the minds of the Mavericks, as Dallas fell despite matching up with a short-handed Spurs squad without Tim Duncan and Tony Parker.
"We just played poorly," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said of the loss to the Spurs. "No excuses. It was just one of those nights where our level of aggression and unselfishness wasn't where it needed to be. Tonight's a different night. We're going to have to be extremely aggressive without committing bad fouls. We're going to have to share the ball and make things happen at both ends of the court."
"It's a challenging game but we're in our own building, and we've got to make some good things happen."
With the two San Antonio stars out in their last meeting, the Mavericks say they lost their own identity and failed to play unselfish, team basketball in the loss.
"We have to share the ball," Kidd said. "We felt we held on to the ball down in San Antonio, and we shot a lot of one-on-ones in the since of one pass, one shot. We have to make them work on the defensive end, so for that we have to get the ball from one end to another and make those guys work."
Dallas has shared the ball much better during their three-game winning streak, which has allowed for new contributors to step in and play big roles as others have gone down due to injury. When swingman Josh Howard went out indefinitely, to return to rehabbing his surgically-repaired left ankle, rookie Rodrigue Beaubois stepped into the starting lineup. Beaubois has scored double figures in Dallas' last two games, seeing time at both the point guard and shooting guard spots next to Jason Kidd.
"He's (Beaubois) got a lot of talent," Kidd said. "My job is to supply him with information about his opponent and maximize his strength, and that's getting out and running. He's doing a great job with the team and finding the open guys and also looking for his shot."
"We're not going to give him too much. We're just going to let him play. When there's time to talk about different things and situations that's when we'll approach him, but right now we're trying to stay out of his way and let him do what he does best."
When Dallas lost starting center Erick Dampier due to illness, reserve forward Drew Gooden was inserted at the five spot, and all he's done since is post back-to-back double-doubles in Dampier's stead.
"Both of them (Beaubois and Gooden) have played well, giving us production at both ends of the court," Carlisle said. "When you get guys that are unable to play, you have to have people step forward and in the last two or three games Drew and Roddy have both done that for us, and we're going to need them to continue to do it."
Lastly, the team finished a victorious 115-113 overtime thriller against Milwaukee in the Mavs' last game without forward Shawn Marion, who sprained his left ankle on the opening play of the game before playing just 14 minutes on the night, all in the first half.
Marion is a game-time decision for Wednesday night's matchup.
"We're going to come back early tonight and treat it, and see what's going on," Marion said about the possibility of him suiting up Wednesday night. "If I had to play right now, no, but if it gets a lot better today and tonight it's possible, definitely."
The game will air locally on KTXA 21 and KTXA 21 HD and nationally on ESPN at 8:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS.
The Mavericks and the NBA have introduced the official NBA All-Star game ballot, featuring Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Josh Howard, Shawn Marion and Jason Terry. For more on how to vote for your favorite Mavs for the All-Star game, to be held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, visit Mavs.com.
Follow Mavs.com’s Earl K. Sneed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EarlKSneed.
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