PREVIEW
MAVS (37-24) AT BULLS (20-40)
Time: 7 p.m. CT
Place: United Center, Chicago
TV: FSSW
Radio: ESPN 103.3 FM; Univision 1270 AM (Spanish)

About the Mavs: Their weeklong road trip comes to an end tonight against the Bulls. So far the Mavs are 2-1 after they trounced the Minnesota Timberwolves, 111-91, on Sunday. . .Center Kristaps Porzingis put on a whale of a performance against the T-Wolves, finishing with 38 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks. Porzingis was 13-of-25 from the field and 6-of-14 from 3-point territory. . .After tonight’s game the Mavs return home to face Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday in the opener of a three-game home stand. . .Neither Luka Doncic nor Porzingis know if they will play against the Bulls. Doncic sat out Sunday’s contest after still suffering from the left thumb sprain he sustained Wednesday against the Sam Antonio Spurs. Meanwhile, Porzingis usually doesn’t play both ends of a back-to-back. “I hope I do (play),” Porzingis said. “But it’s leaning towards probably that I’m going to rest (tonight), but we’ll see.” . . .Seth Curry has been on a tremendous hot streak. That includes scoring a career-high 37 points against Miami last Friday and another 27 points against Minnesota. It’s the first time in his six-year career that Curry has scored 25 of more points in consecutive games. . .The win over the Timberwolves pushed the Mavs’ road record to 21-10 and guaranteed that they’ll have a winning record away from American Airlines this season. . .Doncic collected 38 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists when the Mavs defeated the Bulls in Dallas, 118-110, on Jan. 6.

About the Bulls: Chicago is just 12-19 at home this season, and actually hasn’t played well at all lately. Starting with a 115-106 loss in overtime at Indiana on Jan. 29, the Bulls have lost 10 of their last 11 games. The lone win during that stretch was a 126-117 contest over the Washington Wizards on Feb. 23 when Coby White came off the bench to produce 33 points on 11-of-18 shots in just 34 minutes. . .The Bulls were just 1-8 during February. They ended the month Saturday with a 125-115 loss at the New York Knicks despite 26 points and seven assists from Zach LaVine. . .The best stretch for the Buls this season occurred from Dec. 11-28 when they produced a 5-3 record. That included a 109-106 victory over the highly-touted Los Angeles Clippers behind 31 points from LaVine, who is averaging 25.5 ppg this year. . .Lauri Markkanen averages 15 ppg and 6.5 rpg for Chicago, White is averaging 12.5 ppg and Thaddeus Young averages 10.2 ppg. . .The Bulls are six-and-a-half games out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 22 games remaining on their schedule. . .In this dismal season for Chicago, the Bulls are 20 games under .500 for the first time this year. Following the 10-point loss to the Knicks, LaVine told reporters: “How did we arrive here? There’s a lot of different factors. I don’t think some people play it up to par. I think we did the right things game to game. We fight, but we obviously don’t get the end result that we need. Something (has) got to change. You got to do something to get those wins and stop stockpiling losses.”

Twitter: @DwainPrice

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