Mavs Full Court Press

Catching up with...the Los Angeles Clippers

Like the eye of an ugly playoff-desperation hurricane, the Mavs travel to play the LA Clippers tonight. It's a very winnable game, and the Mavs should treat it as a must win. If they lose tonight, they could very well be looking at a potential six-game slide with a rough stretch ahead. So, this is just as important as those games against contenders, and luckily enough, the Clippers are terrible.

More on Elton Brand's return, Clippers injury woes and Al Thornton's big game after the jump:

Avery's book signing

Meet Avery Johnson on Tuesday at Barnes & Noble at 7700 W. Northwest Hwy in Dallas at 5 p.m. He'll be there to sign and talk about his new book, "Aspire Higher: Winning On and Off the Court with Determination, Discipline and Decisions."

-- Jeff Caplan

Hello, 8 seed

With the Mavs loss to the Warriors tonight, they fall into a three-way tie with the Nuggets and Warriors at 45-28. But, since the Mavs have lost the season series to the Nuggets 2-1 and Denver currently holds the season series lead over Golden State 2-1, Denver gets to be the 7 seed...for now.

The Mavs get to be the 8 seed out of all this because they still hold the season series lead over the Warriors 2-1. Don't get too excited, though, the Mavs will face Golden State in two games in Dallas next Wednesday. That game will be humongous since this playoff stretch could come down to tied records on the last day, and a tiebreaker over the Warriors is as important to them as potentially gaining a game on them.

The Warriors play at San Antonio on Tuesday for their next game, and Denver plays their next game at Phoenix tomorrow.

-Scooter Hendon

Nix that whole "Warriors looking slow" business

Guess they just remembered what it was like when they play the Mavs. After a little warmup, Golden State is obviously feeding off the energy of their fans and the Mavs plodding lineups that include Juwan Howard and Malik Allen. Oh well, we'll see how this shakes out, but it's looking like the Warriors want this pretty badly, and they have tended to get what they want against the Mavs in recent history.

-Scooter Hendon

The beauty of the 24 second clock

Well, not so much for Dallas. The Mavericks jumped to a 12-0 lead and Golden State didn't score for more than four minutes. But at the end of the quarter, the Warriors have taken the lead at 27-26.

Early leads are seldom safe in the NBA because the 24 second clock forces teams to shoot. Golden State missed its first 10 shots, but had to keep shooting. The Warriors eventually warmed up, and hit 3-of-7 from three-point range.

Josh Howard had a good first quarter with nine points and Malik Allen was as good of an outside shooter as Jason Terry. Allen was 3-of-5 from the field for six points and Terry was also 3-of-5 with seven points.

It has the makings of a typical Warriors-Mavericks game.

-- Jan Hubbard

Warriors looking a step slow

As Jan referenced in the last post, it is a good possibility that the Warriors are a big tired after getting home late from that slugfest with Denver. It's definitely showing. They aren't running the floor as well as usual, and the Mavs have used a size advantage so far.

One question though. Why start Malik Allen instead of Brandon Bass here? Bass, he of the freak athleticism and perfect fit to play the running, athletic Warriors. Oh well, I guess an old minutes-eater like Allen who doesn't fit against this Golden State team is a better choice. Yep, that's it.

-Scooter Hendon

So it can't get any worse?

Think again. Jerry Stackhouse has been scratched from the starting lineup because of a right groin strain. Jason Terry will start in his place.

The only good news for the Mavericks is that the Warriors played in Denver last night and did not get home until nearly 1 a.m. today. Golden State coach Don Nelson said he is concerned about fatigue, so perhaps we will see who has the advantage -- a tired team or an injured one.

-- Jan Hubbard

Catching up with...the Golden State Warriors

For the second straight game, the Mavericks face a crucial game for their playoff hopes. They failed in the test in the first game against Denver, and now they will see if they can conquer through very hostile territory in Oakland. The Mavs won both gamew against the Warriors earlier in the season, but some things are obviously different now.

More on the Warriors-Nuggets game last night, Monta Ellis breaking out, and 6-5 Kelenna Azubuike starting at center.

Warriors now in the nine slot

If you care about the Mavs playoff hopes, you were probably paying attention to the Nuggets-Warriors game tonight.

Well, it's over, and the Nuggets were victorious 119-112. With the win, Denver leapfrogs into the eight spot and are now 1/2 game ahead of the Golden State for the final playoff spot. The Nuggets are 1/2 game behind the Mavs now, and play their next game at Phoenix on Monday. Kenyon Martin evidently visited the way-back machine and brought 2004 K-Mart to tear the Warriors up with 30 points and 11 rebounds.

-Scooter Hendon

No miracle for Dirk

When the Mavericks departed for their current three-game swing through Denver, Golden State and Los Angeles to play the Clippers, Dallas coach Avery Johnson talked about “a miracle” that might have Dirk Nowitzki joining the Mavericks for at least the Clippers game.

That's not going to happen. Johnson said Nowitzki is making progress and has spent time working on a stairmaster and stationary bike and also did some shooting.

“But no serious running,” Johnson said after Mavericks practice in Oakland on Saturday. “He’s not ready for that. We’ll see him when we get back off the road trip -- pretty much what we thought.”

Johnson plans to take some of the reserve players to the Mavericks practice court on Tuesday and perhaps put them and Nowitzki through a light workout. He said until then, the Mavericks simply have to find a way to play good basketball for most of the game rather than the two quarters that they played well against the Nuggets in a loss on Thursday.

Johnson said the Mavericks still have the ability to make the playoffs. "Everything is based on us being strong and whole," he said. "We wanted to finish strong but we’re not whole right now and we have to stay whole in our chemistry and guys figuring out how to play in certain situations. Those are some of the growing pains we’ve had to go through."

-- Jan Hubbard