Dallas Mavericks look to prove doubters wrong with win over Nuggets

The Dallas Mavericks take on Western Conference’s top seed, the Denver Nuggets, tonight, after a two-game skid against the Suns and Kings. Can Dallas slow down the surging Nuggets enough to grab a win on Denver’s home court?

The Dallas Mavericks are in for a tough stretch of games spanning the next couple weeks. Starting tonight with the Denver Nuggets in Denver, Dallas has an eight game stretch of difficult Western Conference opponents with six of them being on the road. That is not a good thing for the Mavs who are 2-10 in road games currently.

The next stretch for Dallas consists of: Denver, L.A. Clippers, Golden State, Portland, New Orleans twice and Oklahoma City twice. This is a big stretch of games, but let’s just focus on the biggest task in front of the team, the top-seeded Nuggets.

Denver is led by one of the best players in the league in Nikola Jokic. Jokic is a legitimate MVP candidate with impressive skills in passing, scoring and rebounding. If the Nuggets can keep their play up this year, Jokic should be a real candidate for the Most Valuable Player.

For the Mavs, on the other hand, the best player for the team has undoubtedly been rookie sensation Luka Doncic. There are very few players in the league who have been able to slow down Luka, who has done incredibly well against stout competition night in and night out. Just like Sacramento Kings head coach, Dave Joerger said, Luka may not have a ceiling.

The matchup of Jokic vs. DeAndre Jordan and Luka vs. Torrey Craig will definitely be the ones to watch this evening. Jokic is not a good matchup in skillset for DJ, but Craig will be outmatched in size against Luka. Whichever team wins these matchups will have a good shot at a win tonight.

The Mavs and Nuggets tip-off shortly at 8:00 pm central time. They will be playing at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. Dennis Smith Jr. will be inactive for Dallas while Will Barton will be out for Denver.