Mavericks vs Lakers Preview, Injury Report, and Game Thread: So it goes

Another game!

The Dallas Mavericks (20-16) host the Los Angeles Lakers (20-15) on a national TV game on TNT. When the schedulers put this one on the docket, an early Mavs-Lakers game featuring Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. But as we all know, that’s just not to be. The Mavericks are riding a five game losing streak and the Lakers are playing at a strong clip as of late. Here’s the main things to know:

• WHO: Dallas Mavericks vs Los Angeles Lakers
• WHAT: Searching for win, still
• WHERE: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
• WHEN: 6:30 p.m. CST
• HOW: Channel 29, and Playback with Kirk, Matthew, and David

Things suck for the Mavericks! The injuries keep piling up and up. Luka Doncic and Dante Exum are still injured and Kyrie Irving is out with his back injury. Daniel Gafford joins them after suffering a bad ankle sprain last night against the Grizzlies. The Lakers will be missing Cam Reddish, Christian Wood, and Jarred Vanderbilt.

This one would be pretty wild to win, and yet stranger things have happened. The Mavericks need to play a complete game and push the pace on the Lakers. Dereck Lively is going to have to step up without fouling and PJ Washington is going to have to actually connect on some more shots. A Naji Marshall appearance would be great as well.

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 9:30 pm. Thanks so much for spending time with us here at Mavs Moneyball. Let’s go Mavs!