The Dallas Mavericks are approaching some rough patches in their schedule as Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are both expected to be out for a while with their own respective injuries.

That’s part of the reason why The Athletic’s Law Murray placed the Mavericks one spot lower in his latest power rankings from No. 7 to 8.

READ MORE: Mavericks vs. Lakers: How to Watch, TV, Time, Odds, & Preview

“The Mavericks are 0-3 this season without both Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving, and they will be without both stars for what appears to be most of January,” Murray writes. “For a team with title aspirations, Dallas must find a way to win games. Whether that is increasing the ball movement, finding another on-ball presence or tapping into better defense, this is an opportunity for the Mavericks to develop the skill sets of their role players so that when Dončić and Irving do come back, the team is even better equipped to support the stars.”

The only teams to rank higher than the Mavs were the Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder.

If the Mavs can find some success, or at least just stay afloat, with Irving and Doncic out of the lineup, the team should be in good shape for the second half of the season.

The Mavs are back in action tonight against the Los Angeles Lakers. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT.

READ MORE: 3 Takeaways From Mavericks’ Loss to Grizzlies

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Florida State and Miami will play their first matchup of the 2024-25 season on Wednesday, but the opposing sideline won’t feature Jim Larranaga for the first time since the 2010-11 season. Larranaga shocked all of college basketball by stepping down as Miami’s head coach on December 26th after getting off to a 4-8 start with losses to Mount Saint Mary’s and Charleston Southern.

Leonard Hamilton was asked about Larranaga’s decision to step down in an ACC Zoom call on Monday morning and ahead of Wednesday’s game.

READ MORE: Former FSU Star Jalen Ramsey Makes Decisive Miami Dolphins Career Statement

“Jim has demonstrated that he’s a class act. He’s a guy who thinks things through,” Coach Hamilton started. “I’m sure the decision didn’t come as a knee-jerk reaction to anything particular. I’m sure it came with a lot of thought over a longer period of time and for him to have the courage to stick with his convictions and what he believed is the best thing to do, not only for his team and for the university, players that have played for him before (and it) is to be tremendously respected. I talked to very few coaches who really don’t feel some of the similar things that seems to have been on Jim’s mind. It’s just where we are. I don’t see anything coming in the future that will eliminate the reasons why he made the decision that he did, and I think I have a lot of respect for him for how he did it.”

Coach Larranaga cited things like exhaustion and the ever-changing NIL market as reasons for stepping down. Coach Hamilton is in his own hot water with NIL after six former players sued him last week over alleged promised NIL money that was never delivered. So Hamilton can relate to some of the issues Larranaga was dealing with.

Larranaga isn’t the only ACC coach to make a shocking untimely retirement, as Virginia’s former coach Tony Bennett stepped down about a month before the season started. Leonard Hamilton was already the longest-tenured head coach in the ACC by a mile with 23 seasons in Tallahassee, with Clemson’s Brad Brownell in second with 15 seasons, but the third-longest tenured coach in the ACC after Larranaga’s and Bennett’s retiring is now Kevin Keatts at NC State, who started in 2017.

Florida State and Miami will play in Coral Gables at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

READ MORE: FSU Basketball Picks Up First ACC Win of Season, Beats Syracuse 90-74

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After losing three straight games, the Atlanta Hawks are hoping to close out their road trip strong. They have two games remaining on their longest road trip of the season and one of them is tonight vs the Utah Jazz. Atlanta is going to have to overcome the absence of Jalen Johnson, but Utah is also going to be without key players tonight. Keyonte George, John Collins, and Jordan Clarkson are all out tonight for the Jazz while Lauri Markkanen is questionable. Utah has won two games in a row, but they have been one of the worst teams in the NBA this season. The Hawks could use a win tonight to get back on track, but they will have to do it without their All-Star caliber forward.

Our own Rohan Raman previewed the game earlier today:

“Coming into tonight’s game, the Hawks are 7th in the NBA in PPG, 15th in FG%, 19th in 3PA, 18th in 3P%, 4th in FTA, 24th in turnovers, and 6th in rebounding. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 15th in points per 100 possessions, 18th in effective field goal percentage, 19th in turnover percentage, 7th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 8th in free throw rate.

Currently, the Hawks rank 27th in PPG allowed, 25th in field goal percentage allowed, 30th in three-point attempts allowed, and 30th in three-point percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 17th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 28th in effective field goal percentage allowed.

The Jazz’s offense is solidly positioned within the middle of the NBA and hustles on the glass, but they do struggle to keep possession. Utah is 19th in the NBA in PPG, 17th in FG%, 11th in 3PA, 15th in 3P%, 8th in FTA, 30th in turnovers, and 8th in rebounding. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Jazz are 20th in points per 100 possessions, 14th in effective field goal percentage, 30th in turnover percentage, 3rd in offensive rebounding percentage, and 4th in free throw rate.

On defense, Utah ranks 26th in PPG allowed, 26th in field goal percentage allowed, 27th in three-point attempts allowed, and 17th in three-point percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Jazz are 28th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 22nd in effective field goal percentage allowed.

The key to this game is going to be keeping the Jazz off the boards and taking advantage of their propensity for turnovers. I think the matchup between Kessler and Clint Capela/Onyeka Okongwu is going to be key because Utah thrives on second-chance points. If Capela/Okongwu can hold their own against the seven-footer, it’s going to be hard for a Jazz team down so much offensive firepower to hold pace.

Even though Collin Sexton is a difficult matchup due to his strength and shooting ability, Dyson Daniels should be able to bait him into a few turnovers. I expect Sexton to have a lot of plays as the ball-handler and Daniels will be tasked with shutting him down.

This is a game that I am very interested to see if Risacher can thrive in. The Jazz really don’t have a lot of good wing defenders and they will be focused on not letting Young beat them. If they decide to employ that strategy, I expect that Risacher will be able to take advantage of a lack of defensive attention on him.

On defense, the Hawks should be able to shoot the Jazz out of this game. Getting back Bogdanovic means they will have their best two high-volume shooters (Hunter and Bogdanovic) in the lineup and ready to go against a defense that does not have the personnel to limit them. Mathews has also re-integrated himself into the lineup after struggling for a significant portion of the year and looked better as a quick-trigger shooter from deep.”

According to Fanduel Sportsbook, the Hawks are 6.5 point favorites tonight vs Utah and the total is set at 237.5.

While this is just one game out of 82, the Hawks could really use a win tonight. The Eastern Conference Standings are getting tight in the 4-11 spots and while the Hawks are not far out from being in the No. 4 spot, they are also not far out from being out of the play-in race. Every game matters in a competitive spot like that and even though Johnson is not playing, the Hawks are the better team. Trae Young has a huge game and Atlanta gets the win over the Jazz.

Final Score: Atlanta 121, Utah 115

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