Mavericks vs Blazers Preview, Injury Report, and Game Thread: A Christmas warm-up against Portland

Dallas stays home and get a chance at a tune up before their Christmas Day game

The Dallas Mavericks (18-10) play host to the Portland Trailblazers (9-19) on Monday night at home in the American Airlines Center. The Mavericks rebounded on Saturday night, defeating the Los Angeles Clippers. The Blazers, meanwhile, are coming off getting dunked on by the San Antonio Spurs. The Mavericks won a barn burner in the first contest between these two teams, winning 137-131 on December 1st. Here’s the main things to know:

• WHO: Dallas Mavericks vs Portland Trailblazers
• WHAT: Second game of the season against Portland
• WHERE: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
• WHEN: 7:30 p.m. CST
• HOW: WFAA, Channel 29, and MavsTV as well as Playback with Kirk, Matthew, and David

On the injury report, the Mavericks have a few guys listed. Luka Doncic is listed as questionable with his heel contusion; I have no idea whether or not he’ll play. It likely works down to a pain tolerance issue and whether Dallas feels comfortable with him taking the risk. Jaden Hardy will miss the game with a sprained ankle again. Dante Exum is still recovering from his wrist surgery. The Blazers have Matisse Thybulle out with an ankle sprain and has Robert Williams III listed as questionable.

The Blazers are a slowly sinking team. While talented, Dallas is the better, more coherant team and Dallas needs to notch another win. They’re firmly in fourth in the Western Conference and another win extends that lead and allows them to chase the teams above them.

As you can tell below, you can join me and some other Mavs Moneyball guys in a room on Playback (embedded below) during the game (though I may not be able to start it until halftime). Also, consider joining Josh and I on Pod Maverick live after the game on YouTube, we should start around 10:30 pm. Thanks so much for spending time with us here at Mavs Moneyball. Let’s go Mavs!