The Dallas Mavericks will travel to Portland on Friday to take on the Trail Blazers at Moda Center.
The Mavericks (19-30) are rolling as one of the hottest teams in the NBA, as they have now won five of their last six games with two of those victories coming against the Spurs and Cavaliers. Dallas’ most recent victory came in convincing fashion against the 76ers, with their 18-point victory over Philadelphia serving as their second three-game winning streak in a season filled with long winning droughts. Now, after looking like they were destined for the top of the lottery, their hot start to the new year leaves them just 2.5 games out of the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference standings.
The team the Mavericks sit 2.5 games behind is their opponent Friday, the Trail Blazers. Portland has been on a roll as of late as well, as they have now won four of their last five after dropping four in a row. Their lone defeat in that stretch was to the league-best Warriors by just two points. Damian Lillard has been playing as of late like he feel disrespected by not making the All-Star team, and that’s lifted the Blazers to playing up to expectations. In this five-game stretch, Lillard is averaging 26.8 points per game and Portland remains firmly in that No. 8 spot.
This will be the third matchup between these two teams this season, with the teams splitting the first two meetings.
