Mavericks vs Pelicans Preview, Injury Report, and Game Thread: On the road again

Dallas is in New Orleans on night two of a back-to-back

The Dallas Mavericks (22-18) head out on the road Wednesday night to play the New Orleans Pelicans (9-32). Dallas is struggling as of late, dealing with injuries to their stars and frankly, playing poorly, winning just 3 of their last 10 games. The Pelicans are the Western Conference’s bottom feeder, but they’ve also won 4 of their last 10 games. Here’s the main things to know for the game:

• WHO: Dallas Mavericks at New Orleans Pelicans
• WHAT: Searching for a win again, this time against the West’s worst
• WHERE: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana
• WHEN: 7:00 p.m. CST
• HOW: Channel 29, and Playback with Kirk, Matthew, and David

The injury report sucks again for Dallas. Luka Doncic and Dante Exum are still out. Dereck Lively II is out after spraining his ankle. Kyrie Irving is doubtful with his back issue and the NBA doesn’t like it if a player were to play after being doubtful at this point in the day. The Pelicans aren’t much better. Zion Williamson is out with “conditioning” which is an awesome way of saying he’s not in good shape. Brandon Ingram is out with a sprained ankle. Herb Jones is out with a shoulder injury. But, Dejounte Murray is playing. Let’s hope it’s not two straight games of guys named Murray maiming the Mavericks.

I don’t know what to say at this point. Dallas needs to win, but they don’t have the horses who can make it work. The Pelicans are horrible too, so if someone like PJ Washington were to decide to play a good game, well, that would be wonderful.

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 9:45 pm. Thanks so much for spending time with us here at Mavs Moneyball. Let’s go Mavs!