Nuggets-Mavericks Preview
While the Dallas Mavericks came away empty-handed from a tightly contested road trip, the Denver Nuggets didn't do any better through five not-so-close games at home.
The two struggling teams will look to regroup when the Mavericks return home to face the Nuggets on Saturday night.
After winning six in a row, including three straight on the road, Dallas (9-7) fell flat during a three-game trip through Oklahoma City, Memphis and San Antonio this week.
The Mavericks coughed up a double-digit third-quarter lead during a 117-114 loss to the Thunder and shot just 39.0 percent while matching a season-high with 19 turnovers in a 110-96 loss to the Grizzlies. They closed the swing with a season-low point total in Wednesday's 88-83 loss to the Spurs for their first three-game skid of the season.
"This last road trip left a sour taste in our mouth," Chandler Parsons said. "We felt like we left a few on the table there we could have gotten."
Dallas never led but also didn't trail by more than six during the fourth quarter in San Antonio on the second night of a back-to-back set. The Mavs, averaging 100.6 points this season, fell to 2-5 when failing to score 100.
"It's frustrating," said Dirk Nowitzki. "It was right there... It was a tough one."
Parsons missed his fifth game against the Spurs to rest after playing a season-high 25 minutes at Memphis the night before. He's slowly building his minutes after offseason knee surgery and Dallas is still not comfortable playing him on consecutive days.
The Mavs will likely be without point guard J.J. Barea for the next three games after he sprained his right ankle late against the Spurs. He will travel with the team when they head to Sacramento on Monday, according to coach Rick Carlisle.
Denver's latest defeat was also a low-scoring affair against San Antonio, which held the Nuggets (6-10) to 40.3 percent shooting in their 91-80 loss Friday.
They put up two more points than their season low against Minnesota in the second game of the season and fell to 0-10 when shooting 45.6 percent or worse.
A fruitless four-game homestand has pushed the club's overall skid to five. Denver lost at home against Phoenix, Golden State, the Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio by an average of 12.0 points and has turned the ball over 54 times in its last three.
"We can't sustain any effort," coach Michael Malone said. "We look great in stretches. And we look really bad in stretches."
Denver's most energetic player, Kenneth Faried, missed his third straight game against the Spurs with a left ankle sprain and the timetable for his return is unclear.
The Nuggets, looking for a spark in the opener of a five-game trip, have lost three of four away from home, while Dallas has won four straight at American Airlines Center.
"We have to be a lot more mentally tough," Malone said. "We have to find a way to play for 48 minutes. It's not a 30-minute game. It's not high school anymore. You have to play for 48, and until we do that we're going to continue to lose."
The Mavericks have won two straight meetings with Denver and the last two in Dallas.