New York outlasted Dallas 113-111 on Nov. 19<\/a> at American Airlines Center behind 28 points and five assists from former Maverick Jalen Brunson. Naji Marshall and D\u2019Angelo Russell led the Mavs in that loss with 23 apiece off the bench.<\/p>\nHere are three things to look out for as the Mavs get ready to battle the Knicks for the last time this season.<\/p>\n
Thompson\u2019s hot trigger<\/p>\n
Klay Thompson has been on a tear in a more focal role in the Mavericks\u2019 last two games. He scored a season-high 26 points on 6-of-13 shooting from behind the arc in Thursday\u2019s 144-122 win over the Jazz before pouring in 23 more (matching his previous season-high mark) on 6-of-11 shooting from deep in Saturday\u2019s rematch. It\u2019s been Thompson\u2019s most prolific two-game stretch as a Maverick so far, but he\u2019s been playing well for longer than that. He\u2019s scored 18 or more in four of his last six games as injuries have erased the production usually carried by Cooper Flagg and Anthony Davis.<\/p>\n
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With P.J. Washington (personal), Daniel Gafford (ankle) and Davis (finger) all still out for the Dallas Mavericks, Thompson will need to continue his hot streak to help give the Mavericks a chance against the objectively superior Knicks playing behind their home crowd in Manhattan. Flagg (ankle) has been upgraded to questionable on the latest NBA injury report as of Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
This six-game stretch has already done wonders for Thompson\u2019s trade value. It remains to be seen whether its continuation can help lift the injury-riddled Mavs to anything close to competitive against the first quality opponent of the tough 13-game stretch ahead.<\/p>\n
Brunson bitten by the same bug<\/p>\n
The Mavs may be catching New York at a convenient time, though. Brunson went to the bench just minutes into the Knicks\u2019 112-101 loss at the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday with an ankle injury and hasn\u2019t played in the team\u2019s last two losses to the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns. New York has hit hard times in the New Year, losing eight of the team\u2019s last 10 games dating back to Dec. 31.<\/p>\n
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New York is a shell of itself without Brunson\u2019s ability to create both his own shot and quality looks for his teammates, but some deeper issues may be starting to show themselves in the new year. Murmurs about the job first-year head coach Mike Brown is doing are starting to surface, and Brunson\u2019s ankle injury only serves to increase the angst surrounding one of the most highly scrutinized teams in the NBA.<\/p>\n
The Knicks had not submitted an updated injury report to the NBA as of 2:15 p.m. CDT on Sunday. If Brunson is not available on Monday, that changes the tenor of the matchup significantly. Depending on Flagg\u2019s own availability, Mavs fans could talk themselves into some unfounded optimism here, though backup Miles McBride has stepped up admirably in the Knicks\u2019 last two games. He scored 25 points and dished six assists in the loss to the Warriors and had 23 and five against the Suns.<\/p>\n
The 3-point line with no curve<\/p>\n
In each of the Mavs\u2019 last three wins, the team has shot 41% or better from 3-point range. There is no secret sauce here. When the Mavs shoot it better, they give themselves a chance to win. When they don\u2019t, they look clueless.<\/p>\n
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Flagg or no Flagg, Davis or no Davis, Brunson or no Brunson, Dallas has to keep up with their opponent from beyond the arc. Monday\u2019s game will be no different. If the Mavericks can limit turnovers and shoot it well, they\u2019ll be in this game. If they don\u2019t, they won\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Little extraneous analysis is necessary to diagnose this very frustrating team.<\/p>\n
How to watch<\/p>\n
The Mavericks and the Knicks will tip off their matinee show at 4 p.m. CDT on Monday from Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. The game will be locally televised on NBC and will stream on Peacock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Mavericks (17-26) have won five games in their last eight as they prep for a rare…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":526327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[6272,3118,2494,3139,6275,3140,24114,47133,3364,8043,90607,3130,151372,1260,405,3122,98762,1721,3143,62,11019,67,132,68,3132],"class_list":{"0":"post-526326","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-anthony-davis","9":"tag-charlotte-hornets","10":"tag-cooper-flagg","11":"tag-dallas-mavericks","12":"tag-daniel-gafford","13":"tag-golden-state-warriors","14":"tag-jalen-brunson","15":"tag-jusuf-nurkic","16":"tag-klay-thompson","17":"tag-mavs","18":"tag-miles-mcbride","19":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","20":"tag-naji-marshall","21":"tag-nba","22":"tag-new-york","23":"tag-new-york-knicks","24":"tag-p-j-washington","25":"tag-phoenix-suns","26":"tag-sacramento-kings","27":"tag-sports","28":"tag-the-mavericks","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-unitedstates","31":"tag-us","32":"tag-utah-jazz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115919027145358791","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}