The Dallas Mavericks will head to Oklahoma City to take on the Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Thursday.
January has been a hot-and-cold month for the Mavericks (16-29) thus far, but it looks like they are going through another hot phase having won two in a row after dropping two straight prior. And while those wins came across unimpressive teams in the Knicks and Lakers, following up a 49-point beatdown of Los Angeles with a convincing wire-to-wire victory over New York is certainly nothing to scoff at. And while it may seem like a long shot, the Mavericks are now just 3.5 games behind the Nuggets for the dreaded No. 8 seed in the Western Conference Standings.
Dallas has a much greater challenge ahead of them Thursday, however, with the Thunder coming off a pair of back-to-back road victories over the Jazz and Thunder. Russell Westbrook, to no surprise, was the catalyst behind the two victories, recorded back-to-back triple-doubles in the wins and hitting a game-winning jumper to upset the Jazz in Salt Lake City. More importantly, however, has been the return of Steven Adams for Oklahoma City, who missed two games with a concussion — both of which were Thunder losses. He returned for the two games on the road and recorded a total of 29 points, 17 rebounds and eight blocks in those outings, giving Oklahoma City their interior presence back.
This will be the first meeting of the regular season between these two teams.
