Portland Trail Blazers at Dallas Mavericks 1/17/20: Starting Lineups, Matchup Preview, Daily Fantasy

Portland Trail Blazers at Dallas Mavericks Preview

Tonight in “Big D,” the Dallas Mavericks will play host to the Portland Trail Blazers for the second game of the regular-season series. Portland won the first game at home early on in the season on October 27 121-110. CJ McCollum and Kristaps battled it out, with McCollum scoring 35 points and Porzingis adding 32. Luke Doncic also had a near triple-double.

Dallas is currently sixth in the Western Conference with a 26-15 record. The Mavericks have won their last three games and if they can avenge their early season loss, they will extend that to four. The Mavs are 5-5 in their last 10 games and are surprisingly 12-10 at home.

The Trail Blazers are currently out of the playoff picture as they sit in 10th place with an 18-24 record. Portland has won their last two games as they start to right the ship after losing six of their last 10 games. Portland is 9-14 on the road and will hope to balance that closer to .500 with a win tonight.

TV Schedule

Date: 1/17/20
Time: 9:30 PM ET
Arena: American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX
Channel: ESPN

Injuries

Blazers: Mario Hezonja (P), Jusuf Nurkic, Skal Labissiere, Rodney Hood, Zach Collins (O)
Mavericks: Kristaps Porzingis (Q)

Portland Trail Blazers Starting Lineup

PG: Damian Lillard
SG: CJ McCollum
SF: Kent Bazemore
PF: Carmelo Anthony
C: Hassan Whiteside

Blazers Analysis

Prior to this season, if you polled most NBA writers, there wouldn’t be very many that would have them this low, but they’ve had their share of struggles this season.

However, they had a win over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday and then had a big win over the Houston Rockets yesterday 117-107. Winning tonight would make them 2-0 against Texas teams on this stretch.

“A season is full of ups and downs and we’ve had more downs this year than ups, but it’s a whole second half of the season to play,” Damian Lillard said after the win over the Rockets. “We executed and we played like we wanted to win the game … we’ve just got to try to sustain that.”

Against one of the highest-scoring teams, the Trail Blazers pretty much kept the Rockets locked up as they did not score more than 30 points in a single quarter. Their 32-point quarter, and limiting the Rockets to 21 in the second, really put them ahead and they were able to sustain.

All five Blazers players scored in double figures. They were led in scoring by Damian Lillard’s 25, CJ McCollum’s 24 and both Carmelo Anthony and Hassan Whiteside scored and got things done on the boards. Whiteside had 18 points and 18 rebounds and Carmelo, who has played well with Portland, finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

The Portland defense limited James Harden to just 13 points, and they’ll hope to do the same against Luke Doncic tonight.

Blazers Quick Links: Blazers Starting Lineup, Blazers Roster, Blazers Depth Chart, Blazers Injuries, Blazers News, Blazers Schedule

Dallas Mavericks Starting Lineup

PG: Luka Doncic
SG: Tim Hardaway Jr.
SF: Dorian Finney-Smith
PF: Kristaps Porzingis
C: Dwight Powell

Mavericks Analysis

The Dallas Mavericks have managed to win three straight games and are in sixth place despite being without Kristaps Porzingis for the last nine games.

“You lose a 7-3 guy that can rebound and protect the rim like that, it’s going to make your rim protection and rebounding more challenging,” head coach Rick Carlisle said. “It’s a big loss when a guy like that is out.

“Our guys have done a good job of playing without him, but he’s a difference-maker. And when you don’t have a guy like that, you’re going to feel the difference.”

The Mavericks are hoping he’ll be ready for tonight’s game. He was hoping to play on Wednesday night against Sacramento but it was a no go. As Carlisle spoke to, other players have stepped up, and none more so than second-year guard Luka Doncic, who has his 12th triple-double of the season on Wednesday night’s 127-123 win with 25 points, 17 assists and 15 rebounds.

“These numbers are just crazy,” Carlisle said. “It’s hard to fathom. They’re trapping him all over the court every time down. He’s both beating the traps and playing beautifully out of the traps.”

Seth Curry also knocked down a ton of shots off the bench as he scored 21 off the bench. Tim Hardaway Jr. added 18 points, Dwight Powell had 17, Dorian Finney-Smith scored 15 and Maxi Kleber stepped in for Porzingis with a 14-point effort.

Mavericks Quick Links: Mavs Starting Lineup, Mavs Roster, Mavs Depth Chart, Mavs Injuries, Mavs News, Mavs Schedule

Key Player Matchups

Damian Lillard vs. Luka Doncic

If there was one matchup that was made for a network TV game tonight, it would be Lillard vs. Doncic. Doncic has been on a mission this season and has put up ridiculous numbers. Lillard is one of the top offensive point guards in the league with seemingly limitless range. The Trail Blazers will desperately need a big night from Lillard tonight if they want to try to neutralize Doncic’s efforts.

Carmelo Anthony vs. Kristaps Porzingis

If Porzingis plays, this could be an interesting matchup. Anthony has been one of the few bright spots of Portland’s rough season. He has shown that he belongs in the NBA and is definitely not washed up like many expected. Anthony and Porzingis can both play on the inside and outside, so it’ll be interesting to see how this matchup plays out.

Daily Fantasy

Luka Doncic and Damian Lillard are standouts for tonight’s game. Doncic has am $11k value on FanDuel and he is projected for a standout game, with 53.02 points. Lillard is available for $8.8k and has a projection of 42.97 points.

Bet on Matchup

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