Dallas Mavericks (13-5) at New Jersey Nets (0-17)
Futility is a word rarely associated with an NBA ball club.
The New Jersey Nets are hoping that word doesn't become synonymous with their play on the basketball court. The 0-17 Nets are just one loss away from setting a new mark for the worst start in league history. That loss could, and by all accounts should come at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.
(Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)
Devin Harris and the Nets try to avoid an NBA-worst 0-18 start
The Mavericks are a 13-5, Southwest Division leading team, so coming into New Jersey and handing the Nets one more defeat shouldn't be asking too much. Should it?
"Not at all," Mavs sixth man Jason Terry said fresh off his game-winning jumper in a 104-102 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. "Going in there, we're thinking about that."
"Throw the record out. The record isn't even going to matter. They're still going to play hard. I've watched them play. They've played hard, they just haven't gotten away with a win. We don't want to be the one (the first team to lose to the Nets)."
The Nets have been riddled with injuries all season long, including a groin injury for former Mav Devin Harris which kept the cat-quick point guard out of 10 games. Now with Harris back, the Mavericks say the Nets are everything but an 0-17 team, after witnessing a 41-point, 13-assist night from Harris a season ago.
"When we went in there last year, Devin Harris had one of the best games of his career," Terry said. "I don't want to say revenge is on our minds, but we definitely want to get that game."
"You know Devin is going to be fired up to do what he did last year, when he had 40 against us," Dirk Nowitzki said. "I think we would have rather seen them if they would have won one already, but it is what it is."
On the Mavs' end, Dallas is looking to score a knockout when they have an opponent staggering on the ropes. After getting out to big leads, the Mavs have not been unable to put teams into submission holds and force them to tap out, leading to many late-game heroics this season.
Dallas does not want that to be the case Wednesday night.
"We'll figure it out. I'm glad it's early on in the season. We're a much better team than what we're showing," Terry said. "We're just disappointed about the way we're finishing. It's no secret, that's definitely an area where this team has to get better, but we'll continue to work."
"To us at this point, no game is easy," Nowitzki said.
The Mavericks-Nets game will air Wednesday night, locally on Fox Sports Southwest at 6:30 p.m. CT.
Dallas returns to the American Airlines Center on Saturday night, when they play host to the Atlanta Hawks. That game will air locally on Fox Sports Southwest at 8 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.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment