Brooklyn Nets vs. Dallas Mavericks preview, Digi Mart USA News (Dallas, Texas): The Brooklyn Nets had a chance to hold on Saturday night against the Atlanta Hawks but could not. Brooklyn out-rebounded Atlanta by 13, yet its struggles on the glass in the final two minutes cost it the game, which ended 124-121.
The Dallas Mavericks are looking to return to the playoffs for the first time in a few years, and they hope their roster has the talent to get there. They picked up an NBA Cup victory over the Utah Jazz at home on Friday night, winning 112-100.
Game information: The game tips off at 7:30 p.m. ET (6:30 p.m.
CT) at American Airlines Center in Dallas. It will be broadcast on YES Network, DAZN and NBA League Pass, with radio coverage on WFAN.
Injury report: Brooklyn is without Egor Dëmin (right bone bruise) and Mikel Brown Jr. (back-to-back).
Dallas is without Tarik Biberovic (right heel bursitis), Dereck Lively II (right foot surgery) and Sergio de Larrea (right knee sprain).
Back-to-back games are difficult, and traveling from Atlanta to Dallas makes the schedule even tougher for the Nets. If Brooklyn wants to win, it will need to slow down Kyrie Irving, who is back after missing last season with an ACL tear.
He is averaging 21 points per game, and his shot profile has shifted, with the lowest share of field-goal attempts inside three feet of his career and a career-high three-point rate.
Nolan Traoré continued to stand out for Brooklyn, scoring 19 points with a career-high five steals in 22 minutes against Atlanta. With Brown Jr.
out, Traoré is expected to see significant minutes again, and the Nets have little to lose by giving young guards more time together once Brown Jr. returns.
Brooklyn will also need to win the battle on the boards for all 48 minutes. Day’ron Sharpe and the rest of the Nets will look to keep Daniel Gafford, Morez Johnson and the Mavericks off the glass.
Sharpe recorded the first triple-double of his career against Atlanta with 12 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 13 assists.
Player to watch: Cooper Flagg. The publisher calls Flagg one of the ten best players in the NBA in only his second professional season. At 19, he has a chance to become a leader for the next generation of U.S.
men’s basketball. Mavs Moneyball’s David Trink, quoted in the article, noted that Flagg has taken over fourth quarters several times this year but was relatively uninvolved in Dallas’s crunch-time offense in a recent loss to the San Antonio Spurs, and that demanding the ball late in games is the next step in his development.
It is a homecoming of sorts for Julius Randle, a Dallas native playing in front of friends and family. The publisher notes that Randle has had good moments but must cut down on turnovers, having committed at least four in five of his last six games and a season-high six against Dallas’s opponent last night.
Brooklyn will need its All-Star to make the most of his possessions.
