Two teams looking for solid footing after enduring a rocky stretch of games
Dallas is stumbling, bumbling, and tumbling towards .500 as their roster continues to fluctuate from game to game due to injury, illness, and player rest. Minnesota, who has proven to be one of the streakier, feast-oor-famine teams this year, also finds themselves hovering around the .500 mark. This matchup will be a test of two teams struggling with their identity and trying to determine what the remainder of the season is going to look like.
A battle of pride
Dallas have lost four of their last five, with their only win coming against an OKC Thunder team who thought they might be able to sneak a rest game in for their stars and still compete for a win, and they were nearly right.
Two of Dallas’ last three losses have come against some of the dregs of the league in the Pelicans and the Hornets. AT least after they lost to New Orleans they were able to bounce back for their victory over OKC, but Minnesota is showing no signs of using this matchup as a rest game. Dallas is going to have to win this one fair and square.
Nowhere but up
Over their last 10 games, Dallas has been one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the league. The 34% they’ve shot slots them in at 23rd in the leguae, between Charlotte and Washington – not exactly who they’d like to be emulating. Their shooting from distance hopefully hit rock bottom in their outing against Charlotte where they shot a miserable 6-for-32, or 18.8%. A real shame since they got such a stellar 31-point performance from Daniel Gafford that went to waste in the loss.
Surely, it’s impossible for a team of professional basketball players to shoot that poorly twice in a row. They better hope things improve, because over those same 10 games, Minnesota has been shooting the three second-best in the league at just over 40% as a team.
Playing up to the competition
While the Wolves as a team has been up and down, Anthony Edwards – their undisputed leader with Karl-Anthony Towns being traded – has shown he can not only shoulder more of the load, but do it well. In his last 10, he’s been shooting over 10 threes a game and hitting at over 48%. That explains why he’s second in the league in scoring over that stretch. Someone on Dallas is going to have to step up and, if not snap this hot streak he’s on, at least contain him enough that he doesn’t simply control the entirety of the game; something Dallas like having Luka Doncic do on his best nights, if only he were available.
How to watch
You can broadcast or stream the game on ESPN at 6:30