MAVERICKS (10-9) at NEW ORLEANS PELICANS (6-17)
Time: 7 p.m.
Place: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans.
TV: Bally Sports Southwest.
Radio: The Eagle 97.1 FM; Univision Zona MX 99.1 FM (Spanish)
About the Mavericks: They have won seven of their last eight meetings with New Orleans, although they did lose their only trip to the Big Easy last season, 112-103 . . . They are in a bad way at the moment, having lost five of their last six to drop to 10-9 . . . They are tied for the fewest games played in the league at 19 with San Antonio. The Spurs won’t reach 20 games until Thursday at Portland . . . Tim Hardaway isn’t the only Maverick who has struggled to shoot the 3-pointer lately. It’s virtually a team-wide shooting slump. But Hardaway’s last eight games (23.5 percent, 12-of-51) is indicative of everybody’s problems . . . The Mavericks were outrebounded 48-33 by the Cavaliers on Monday. It was one of the points of emphasis at Tuesday’s practice before the team departed to New Orleans. “As a group, we have to do a better job rebounding,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We can’t just rely on our centers. Defensively, or getting second opportunities on the offensive end, that’s a group (thing) that we have to get better at. And we just haven’t been good at that of late. That’s something we talked about today.” . . . This will be the second of four meetings this season. The Mavericks won 108-92 on Nov. 8 at American Airlines Center . . . The Pelicans will come to American Airlines Center for a rematch on Friday.
About the Pelicans: They have been patiently waiting for the season debut of star forward Zion Williamson, who had offseason foot surgery and was cleared for all basketball activities before Thanksgiving. It’s possible he could make his first appearance against the Mavericks, although he has yet to have a full practice with the team. That could come on Thursday between games with the Mavericks as the Pelicans come to Dallas on Friday. Williamson averaged 27 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 61 games last season . . . The Pelicans have struggled without him, but they are returning home from a 2-1 trip on which they split games with Utah and beat the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday 123-104 . . . Against the Clips, center Jonas Valanciunas had a monster night, erupting for 39 points and 15 rebounds. He canned seven of his eight 3-point tries. He leads the NBA in 3-point shooting at better than 51 percent. “He’s doing it all,” Jason Kidd said. “They’re getting healthy and they’re playing well. They beat the Clippers in LA and Valanciunas put on a (great) performance. (Brandon) Ingram’s back and he’s an all-star who causes a lot of problems. They’re a different team than when we played them the first time.” . . . The Pelicans outrebounded the Clippers 47-35. Given the Mavericks’ problems on the boards, that’s an ominous stat . . . The Pelicans actually have been very competitive lately. They started the season 1-12 but have gone 5-5 since . . . They can be occasionally careless with the ball, ranking 24th in the league in turnovers at more than 15 per game. The Mavericks average less than 12 . . . Ingram leads them at 21.4 points per game and had 27 in Monday’s win at LA.
Twitter: @ESefko
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