San Antonio @ Dallas preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 18, 2019 ) San Antonio 110, Dallas 117

Star point guard Luka Doncic will likely return from a four-game absence when the Dallas Mavericks host the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday. Doncic, who suffered an ankle injury against the Miami Heat on Dec. 14, went through a full practice on Tuesday and displayed he is nearly ready to rejoin the Mavericks.

Dallas is 2-2 without Doncic, an MVP candidate who is averaging 29.3 points, 9.6 rebounds and 8.9 assists in 25 games. "I'm feeling good," Doncic told reporters after Tuesday's practice. "There were a lot of things that we had to do, and we're just taking care of it. We'll see how it progresses, and we'll see if I'm ready to play." San Antonio has won five of its past eight games, including a stunning 145-115 road win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday. The Spurs registered a season high for points and also shot 67.4 percent from the field, which is the highest mark in the NBA this season.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, TNT

ABOUT THE SPURS (12-17): San Antonio made 19-of-22 shots to start the game while dismantling the Grizzlies and power forward LaMarcus Aldridge was superb with a season-best 40 points on 17-of-25 shooting to go with nine rebounds and five assists. "It was just one of those nights," Aldridge told reporters of both his personal success and the team's dominance. "We've had nights where we've been on the other end of it, where we couldn't throw it in the lake." Shooting guard DeMar DeRozan was 10-of-11 shooting while recording 26 points and 10 assists, with the latter total being one shy of his season high.

ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (19-10): Dallas is looking to move on from an embarrassing 110-107 road loss to the Toronto Raptors as it became the first team to lose a game it led by 30 points since 2009. "I think it was actually the best thing that could've happened to us," Mavericks guard Tim Hardaway Jr. told reporters. "It's a tough loss, being up as much as 30, but it shows that whenever you're up, you can't let up. You can't back down from the competition. You can't ease yourself into the win, because the game isn't even over yet. I think that moving forward this will put an anger and a killer instinct mentality even more into our guys." Jalen Brunson, filling in as the starter for Doncic, had a season-best 21 points to go with nine assists against the Raptors and is averaging 14.6 points and 9.2 assists over the last five games.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Doncic collected 42 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in the Mavericks' 117-110 home victory on Nov. 18 to end the Spurs' winning streak in the series at five.

2. Dallas SG Seth Curry scored one point on 0-of-7 shooting against Toronto after averaging 19 points over the previous three contests.

3. San Antonio F Trey Lyles scored a season-high 17 points against Memphis after averaging 3.8 over the previous eight games.

PREDICTION: Mavericks 117, Spurs 111