Mavericks vs Nuggets Preview and Injury Report: Part one of two

The first half of a miniseries against Denver

The Dallas Mavericks (22-16) host the Denver Nuggets (22-15) Sunday afternoon in the first game of a two game miniseries being played in Dallas. It’s an early game today, with a 2:00 pm CST start time! The Mavericks have won two straight: beating the Los Angeles Lakers and rallying past the Portland Trailblazers. After losing to the Boston Celtics, the Nuggets have dominated the Los Angeles Clippers and Brooklyn Nets. Here’s the main things to know before the game!

• WHO: Dallas Mavericks vs Denver Nuggets
• WHAT: Testing their mettle against MVP Candidate Nikola Jokic and company
• WHERE: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
• WHEN: 2:00 p.m. CST
• HOW: Channel 29, and Playback with Kirk, Matthew, and David

The Mavericks injury report is as clean as possible. Luka Doncic remains out (but he did do some on court work recently!), as does Kyrie Irving and Dante Exum. The Nuggets will get Aaron Gordon back after a nine-game absence. Jamal Murray is listed as questionable as of this writing with left knee inflammation. Jokic is playing after feeling sick during the Nets game.

Two wins in a row are good, three would be amazing. Beating the Nuggets without both Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving feels like a tall task, but I think Dallas can do it if things fall the right way. Keeping Jokic off the glass and not letting Russell Westbrook hurt you in his limited minutes will be key. Aaron Gordon’s back though, so this will be a test for the Dallas Mavericks.

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 8:00 pm. Thanks so much for spending time with us here at Mavs Moneyball. Let’s go Mavs!