Clinging to a spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament picture, the Dallas Mavericks need a win over the visiting Brooklyn Nets on Monday night.
Dallas (37-38) entered Sunday in ninth place in the West, one-half game ahead of 10th-place Sacramento and 1 1/2 above 11th-place Phoenix, which hosted Houston on Sunday night. Only the seventh-through-10th-place teams make the play-in tourney to vie for two playoff berths.
The Mavericks did get a big boost last week with the return of Anthony Davis, who missed nearly two months with a groin injury he sustained in his debut with the team.
In Davis’ first game back, which happened to be the first meeting between Dallas and Brooklyn this season, he finished with 12 points and six rebounds in just over 26 minutes. The Mavericks won that March 24 game 120-101.
Davis sat out the next game, which was the second half of a back-to-back, but has played in the Mavericks’ next two games, also wins for Dallas. On Saturday night, Davis finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists as Dallas edged host Chicago 120-119.
Davis’ return was especially important after the Mavericks lost star point guard Kyrie Irving to a torn ACL on March 3.
“You look when we left, I think we were in 11th starting this road trip,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “We’re just focused on one game at a time. As you know, this group is close. They’re fighting for each other. They’re executing the game plan.
“We were built around (Irving) and Luka (Doncic). Things changed. Then with the injuries, things changed again. These guys in that locker room, there’s a lot of character, a lot of talent. The coaching staff, I’ve said before, has done a great job of keeping these guys prepared.”
Davis and Doncic were the headliners in a blockbuster trade involving Dallas, the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah in early February.
Doncic was averaging 28.1 points per game while with the Mavericks, and Irving was at 24.7 points. With them gone, Anthony Davis leads with 17.8 points per game, followed by P.J. Washington at 14.9 points and Klay Thompson at 14.3.
Thompson has started 66 games this season for Dallas and is on pace to finish with his most starts since 2018-19, the season that ended with Thompson tearing his ACL in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
The Nets have fallen apart in recent weeks, dropping 16 of their last 19 games. They’re coming off an entertaining win on Saturday, however, as former Gonzaga standout Drew Timme made the go-ahead lay-in with eight seconds to go as Brooklyn won at Washington 115-112.
In his NBA debut on Friday, Timme tallied a double-double but the visiting Clippers beat Brooklyn by 32 points.
“You can tell why he was the college player that he was and why he was performing in the G League the way that he was,” Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said. “Now he plays in the NBA, he still finds a way and does really good things. Just a good feel for the game. Never rushed, uses his body. He can find his teammates, he can score, he can rebound.”
Cam Thomas was Brooklyn’s most effective scorer during his sparse appearances in the lineup, averaging 24 points in 25 games before being sidelined with a season-ending hamstring injury on March 13. Cameron Johnson averages 18.8 points per game this season.
