© Reuters. NBA: Dallas Mavericks at Brooklyn Nets
The Dallas Mavericks look to finish their ultimate highway swing earlier than the NBA All-Star break with a win on Monday once they face the slumping Orlando Magic.
Dallas opened its three-game, Japanese Convention journey Feb. 25 with a 111-97 loss at Philadelphia however rebounded on Saturday to snap the Brooklyn Nets’ eight-game profitable streak in a 115-98 rout.
Kristaps Porzingis scored 18 factors and grabbed 4 rebounds in his return to the lineup from a three-game absence, the results of lower-back tightness. Maybe extra essential to the Mavericks’ win had been Porzingis’ three blocked pictures.
“His rim safety and protection was the most effective that it has been all 12 months,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle mentioned in his postgame press convention. “It simply exhibits the quantity of labor that he is been placing in during the last 10 or 11 days.”
Porzingis’ efficiency got here amid rumors of commerce discuss involving the 7-foot-3 submit participant.
“I do not know what is going on on behind the scenes, and I should not be too nervous about it,” Porzingis mentioned at workforce media availability on Friday. “It may solely distract me on the finish of the day.”
Mavericks proprietor Mark Cuban instructed the Dallas Morning Information that rumors of a Porzingis commerce earlier than the March 25 deadline are inaccurate.
Within the meantime, Dallas goals to construct on its current run of three wins in its final 4 video games at sputtering and injury-riddled Orlando.
The Magic gained three straight video games and 4 of 5 earlier than hitting their present three-game skid. Orlando dropped a 124-109 choice to Utah on Saturday, taking part in with out Cole Anthony (rib), James Ennis (NYSE:) (calf) and Aaron Gordon (ankle).
The absences of Anthony, Ennis and Gordon compounded the already tenuous roster state of affairs the Magic have endured with Jonathan Isaac out as a consequence of a knee harm sustained on the Orlando-area bubble in the summertime.
Orlando additionally misplaced Markelle Fultz to a torn ACL in January.
Attrition from its restricted rotation might have contributed to Orlando’s fourth-quarter woes in its final two video games. The Magic had been outscored by 17 factors within the ultimate interval of a Feb. 25 loss at Brooklyn and surrendered 37 factors in Saturday’s loss to Utah.
“There are video games the place you’re form of flat, power smart,” Evan Fournier mentioned in his postgame press convention. “However we combat laborious. The Jazz are a very good workforce and like I mentioned, we had been within the recreation. (The) starting of the fourth quarter and the rebounding recreation actually killed us.”
Utah outrebounded Orlando, 52-37. The Magic held the Jazz to 10 offensive rebounds, in keeping with Orlando’s season-long per-game yield of 9 — among the finest averages within the NBA.
Orlando ranks close to the underside of the league in defensive and complete rebounds surrendered per recreation, nevertheless, a byproduct of the Magic’s league-worst 43 % field-goal capturing.
Of Orlando’s high 5 scorers, none are capturing 50 % from the ground. Nikola Vucevic leads the way in which at 48.3 % on his 24.4-point per recreation common.
Dallas is capturing 46.5 % from the ground as a workforce, and 54.8 % from contained in the 3-point arc. Luka Doncic — averaging near a triple-double with workforce highs of 28.5 factors, 9.0 assists and eight.4 rebounds per recreation — is capturing 54.3 % on 2-point subject targets and a career-best 35.1 % from 3-point vary.
–Subject Stage Media
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