Dallas @ Golden State preview
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Last Meeting ( Jan 25, 2022 ) Dallas 92, Golden State 130
The Golden State Warriors continue their pursuit of the top spot in the Western Conference on Sunday night when they host the Dallas Mavericks in a nationally televised game in San Francisco.
The Warriors had limped into last week's All-Star break having lost four of five games to fall 6 1/2 behind first-place Phoenix. But Golden State returned to action in top form Thursday with a 132-95 road win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Moreover, the Suns opened the door a bit with a home loss to the New Orleans Pelicans the next night, allowing the Warriors to creep within six games of Phoenix entering play of Saturday.
The health status of each team also favors the Warriors, whose top prospect -- center James Wiseman -- was sent to the G League to tune up for his NBA season debut, which could come as early as this week. Wiseman has yet to play this season following knee surgery.
Meanwhile, the Suns have gone just 1-1 since losing Most Valuable Player candidate Chris Paul for perhaps the rest of the regular season with a broken thumb.
Golden State's win at Portland was mostly the result of Stephen Curry's "beautiful game," as Warriors coach Steve Kerr called it. Coming off a record-setting 3-point performance at the All-Star Game, Curry turned his attention to ball distribution against the Trail Blazers, dishing off a season-best 14 assists to complement his 18 points.
"Steph was brilliant," Kerr gushed after the game. "They were trapping him and he was getting the ball out and finding open cutters and creating 4-on-3's all night. I loved his patience and the way he ran the team. He played a beautiful game."
The Warriors and Mavericks split games in January, each winning at home.
Dallas harassed Curry into 5-for-24 shooting and just 14 points in its 99-82 win on Jan. 5. Three weeks later, Golden State exacted a measure of revenge with a 130-92 shellacking in San Francisco when Curry again struggled with his shooting (just 2-for-10 on 3-pointers) but chipped in with nine rebounds and seven assists.
Mavericks star Luka Doncic scored 26 and 25 points in the two meetings.
On Friday, he was just 8-for-24 while scoring 23 points in a 114-109 loss at Utah in the team's return from the All-Star break. Doncic got into a verbal spat with a Jazz fan during the game, but insisted it had nothing to do with his substandard performance.
"He was talking very bad," Doncic said, "and I just said, ‘Thank you for paying for watching me,' and that's it. It's going to be my phrase every game when somebody talks to me."
Dallas newcomers Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans, both acquired when the Mavericks sent Kristaps Porzingis to the Washington Wizards before the trade deadline, combined for 37 points off the bench; Dinwiddie 8-for-12 en route to 20 points, Bertans 5-for-8 on 3-pointers in a 17-point performance.
--Field Level Media