Hoop And Harm

Golden State Warriors Cheerleaders

The Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks sit at opposite ends of the standings, but both teams are struggling right now and need a win to get back on track.

The NBA lines have the Mavericks (-175) favored by 4-points over the Warriors (+155) and the total is 218.5 reflecting each teams defensive struggles.

The Mavs have let their opponents shoot 52.0 percent and average 109.6 points in their last five games. Their lone victory in that span came at home over this same Warriors team.

After their most recent setback, a 117-108 loss to the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves, coach Rick Carlisle criticized his players effort. “We’re not going to be good until we play hard,” said Carlisle.

Dirk Nowitzki led Mavs in scoring with 21 points even though he was benched to start the game because he was late for the pregame shootaround.

The poor defensive effort was on show for all to see at the end of the game when Minnesota went on a 13-2 run to close out the victory.

The Golden State Warriors are on an 8-game losing streak that coincides with a period of defensive struggles similar to the Mavs.

The Warriors have given up 112.8 points per game during the losing streak and need to tighten up a lot before they can expect to win with any regularity.

Turnovers really hurt Golden State in their most recent loss, a 104-95 setback to the Thunder. Lazy play saw them give up the ball 23 times while the Thunder added 16 steals.

The Warriors have had a lot of success against Dallas at home winning five of their last six and the season series is tied at one.

This is the first game of the season in Oakland, but the Warriors had what was perhaps their best victory of the season when they pulled off a 111-103 upset over the Mavs in November.

The Mavericks have really struggled stopping Monta Ellis as he picked up 37 points in the victory and then grabbed a career-high 46 points in last week’s 110-101 loss to the Mavericks.

Expect to see a lot more intensity from both teams at their end of the court as the coaches stress the defensive aspect of the game at the cost of some offense.