Mavericks vs Pelicans Preview: Dallas hosts New Orleans for the first of a two game series

The Dallas Mavericks host the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night, the first in a set of games for the two teams. Each squad sits at 23-16 and this game will break that tie. The contest is on Bally Sports Southwest and starts at 7:30 pm CST. Dallas is coming off a great win versus the New York Knicks whereas the Pelicans got handed a loss by the Nuggets in their most recent game. Let’s get to the key things!

• WHO: Dallas Mavericks vs New Orleans Pelicans
• WHAT: Game 6 of a long home stand for the Mavericks
• WHERE: American Airlines Center, Dallas Texas
• WHEN: 7:30 pm CST
• HOW: Bally Sports Southwest

The injury report is brutal for New Orleans: no Zion Williamson, no Brandon Ingram, no CJ McCollum, no Trey Murphy, and no Matt Ryan. For Dallas, Luka Doncic, Dereck Lively II, and Dante Exum are all still out. HOWEVER, Maxi Kleber is playing his first game in a long long time, so it will be great to see another big man on the floor for Dallas.

On paper, it seems like the Pelicans are all but ceding this game. Reports said they got to their Dallas hotels at 4:30am, and this is the second night of a back-to-back for travel for the Pelicans. It’s not a great situation for them.

But Dallas can’t afford to play down to any opponent. Here’s hoping they come out and get a decisive win against a divisional foe. Thanks so much for hanging at Mavs Moneyball and sorry for the late posting of the game thread!