On Saturday, the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat will meet in Miami, with both teams hoping to end the recent cold spells that have hurt their chances of making the playoffs.
Miami (40-37) dropped its third consecutive on Wednesday with a 101-92 misfortune at New York. Miami is now 1 1/2 games behind Brooklyn for the sixth and final guaranteed playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Brooklyn will play the eighth-place Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.
Miami’s offense will probably need to be improved if they are to turn things around in the last few games of the regular season.
The Heat’s current skid began on March 25 when they lost to Brooklyn 129-100. Miami has scored 92 points in its last two games, but since losing 113-99 to Chicago on March 18, it has only scored 95.8 points per game.
Even though the Heat’s scoring offense ranks last in the NBA, their four-game average is nearly 13 points less than their 108.7 season average.
Wednesday, Dallas (37-40) suffered from its own offensive woes, particularly in the Mavericks’ 17-point fourth quarter victory over Philadelphia, 116-108.
The Mavericks led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but after the break, they had trouble making shots and committing turnovers, resulting in their fifth defeat in six games.
Kyrie Irving had 23 points, while Luka Doncic had 24. But Dallas coach Jason Kidd said in his press conference after the game that the team is still finding its offensive rhythm with the All-Star duo sharing the backcourt.
With 21 points, Tim Hardaway Jr. was the only other Maverick to score in the double digits against the 76ers.
Dallas scored more than four points less than its season average (113.8) in each of the other four defeats during this skid, with the exception of the 125 points it scored in a two-point loss to Golden State on March 22.
Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks are attempting to climb into the top 10 of the Western Conference heading into Saturday’s penultimate game of a five-game road trip and the first leg of a weekend back-to-back.
Dallas’ continuous slide dropped it to eleventh in the West, a game behind Oklahoma City for the gathering’s last play-in spot before the Thunder’s Friday outing to Indiana. Prior to the Jazz’s matchup with Boston on Friday, the Mavericks held a tenuous half-game advantage over Utah, which was in 12th place.
