Timberwolves-Mavericks Preview

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Earl K. Sneed, Mavs.com
Minnesota Timberwolves (14-47) at Dallas Mavericks (40-21)

There's no don't that the Dallas Mavericks are a confident team right now.

With an eight-game winning streak, the NBA's longest current streak and the Mavs' best stretch in two years, how could the squad not be confident. Forward Shawn Marion prefers to say the Mavericks are playing with a bit of swagger.

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"I think our attitude has always been good. It's just a sense of urgency that we've got a little bit more of," Marion said. "You get a little swagger to you when you're winning games. We got our swag on right now."

But the Mavericks have to avoid being overconfident against a Minnesota Timberwolves squad that has already beaten Dallas on its home floor. Though both teams have won on the other's home court, the Mavericks haven't gotten over a 117-108 home loss to the Western Conference's worst team on Feb. 5. It is a loss the Mavericks will try to avenge Wednesday night as they once again host Minnesota at the American Airlines Center.

"I'm sure the win they got here has given them even more confidence," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "We're going to have to play a lot better than we did last time. We're going to have to play with a lot more force."

In their last meeting, Minnesota out-shot the streaking Dallas squad 53 percent to 43 percent. The Wolves also torched the Dallas defense from behind the 3-point arch, connecting on 12-of-22 from long range.

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But this is a different Mavericks team since adding Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson at the All-Star break. Because of the new additions, the Mavericks believe the third meeting between the two squads will end in Dallas' favor.

"They hit some tough shots the last time we played them here. Our sense of urgency was really down. We were going through a lot of ups and downs at the time. Right now, we're on a consistent pace and level. We're a totally different team now," Marion said.

The Mavericks are certainly a different team with Butler's perimeter scoring, Haywood's low post dominance and Stevenson's versatility coming off the bench.

"Butler may be coming off his best game, in terms of his shooting," Carlisle said. "(Haywood) has been a real presence around the rim...Stevenson's given us some quality minutes, too. All three guys have been valuable."

With the three newcomers fully integrated into the fold, Carlisle believes his team is playing the best it has all season long. But the head play-caller is not buying into his team's new-found swagger. At least not yet.

"I just think it's really important that we continue to work at the things that we're doing. That is hard play on defense, sharing it on offense and being aggressive to try to get the ball in the paint and make good, solid plays. All that other stuff -- labels about this, swagger that -- I don't know. Let's see where we're at come the end of the year," the coach said.

Carlisle and company go for their ninth consecutive win, hosting the Timberwolves on Wednesday night. The game will air locally on Fox Sports Southwest at 7:30 p.m. CT. The two teams are knotted 1-1 in the season series. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS.

For up to the minute news on the Dallas Mavericks, visit Mavs.com. Follow Earl K. Sneed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EarlKSneed.