On Friday, the Dallas Mavericks will travel to Chicago Bulls, who have already secured a spot in the East’s play-in tournament, to continue their quest for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference.
Last week, Chicago (38-42) clinched a spot in the play-in round, but the Bulls lost to Atlanta on Tuesday and Milwaukee on Wednesday, locking them into the No. 10 seed.
Chicago will confront either Atlanta or Toronto making a course for open the play-in competition.
After snapping a three-game losing streak on Wednesday, Dallas (38-42) still has a chance of qualifying for the West play-in round. Due to Kyrie Irving’s 31 points and Luka Doncic’s 29 points and 10 rebounds, the Mavericks defeated the Sacramento Kings 123-119, defeating one of the conference’s leading contenders.
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 24 points for Dallas, making it the third time in four games that Doncic, Hardaway, and Irving have all scored 20 or more points in the same game.
After Thursday night’s slate, the Mavericks will have a better idea of where they stand heading into the final weekend. Utah plays Oklahoma City, which has the tiebreaker but has the same record as Dallas. On Friday, Dallas could either be positioned to overtake the Thunder for the final play-in spot or be looking up at them.
On Sunday, Dallas plays San Antonio, a team with one of the league’s worst records. The Mavericks’ hopes of reaching the postseason are greatly enhanced by Friday’s game against the Bulls because of the favorable matchup.
Even though the last time the two teams met was on December 10, long before Irving’s addition significantly altered the Mavericks’ roster, Chicago prevailed.
Without Doncic, Dallas played the 144-115 defeat. In the victory, DeRozan scored 28 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Bulls.
Zach LaVine and DeRozan both average team-highs of 24.7 points per game heading into Friday’s matchup. With 17.7 points and 11.1 rebounds, center Nikola Vucevic is averaging a double-double per game.
Dallas will face a tough defense from the Bulls, who are seventh in the league with a yield of 112.2 points. In terms of scoring defense (113.8 points) and scoring offense (114.2 points), the Mavericks are in the middle of the league.
While Chicago relies more heavily on interior scoring with 32.1 field goals made from within the 3-point line, Dallas leads the NBA with just 11.1 3-point conversions allowed per game.
