Winless Mavericks Seek First Win Against the Undefeated Grizzlies

As many fans begin to sound the alarms in Dallas, the Mavericks look to get a win against a hot Memphis team.

In their first meeting of the 2017-2018 season, the Dallas Mavericks set to faceoff against the division rival Memphis Grizzlies. In their previous meeting, the Mavericks were able to beat Memphis as Devin Harris dropped 15 points and eight assists in the last game of the 2016-2017 season.

However, that was then, and this is now.

Currently, the Dallas Mavericks are one of the worst, if not the worst team, in the league.

With multiple lingering injuries and a rough opening four games, the Mavericks are yet to get a win under their belt this season. In contrast, the Memphis Grizzlies have enjoyed an incredible start to the season as they are tied with the Clippers and Spurs for best record in the Western Conference.

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Now, the season is still in its infant stages, but the Grizzlies three wins come against some of the best teams in the NBA: the Pelicans, Rockets, and Warriors. Led by center Marc Gasol and guard Mike Conley, David Fizdale‘s Grizzlies have bumped up their playoff odds from their initial 18% chance to a 44% chance today, according to FiveThirtyEight’s NBA Predictions.

As for the Mavericks, the team was initially predicted to win 30 games with a seven percent chance to make the playoffs in FiveThirtyEight’s preseason predictions. Now, Dallas is projected to have the third worse record in the league at 26-56.

Going into tonight’s game, the Mavericks are coming off a loss to Golden State which contained a few moments that caused insult to injury. First, Draymond Green put Dennis Smith Jr. in his place after Smith Jr. tried to dunk on him.

While it didn’t seem like much, notice that Dennis Smith Jr. did not score any more points after hitting one of his two free throws from the foul.

Later on in the night, Green would go on to mock the relevance of Mavericks’ rookie Gian Clavell and defend his teammate, Jordan Bell, for throwing an alley-oop to himself towards the end of the blowout game.

As for tonight, the Mavericks will be looking to pick up a much-needed win as Dallas fans become more and more nervous about the future of the team. As the season moves on, fans may hop on the forbidden tanking bandwagon far earlier than anticipated.

Next: Is Michael Porter Jr. Worth Tanking For?

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