Dallas Mavericks glad to be home to face L.A. Clippers tonight

The road woes experienced by the Dallas Mavericks this year are well documented and terribly real, but at least the team has been really impressive at home for the most part. How can they keep that trend alive tonight?

The Dallas Mavericks will have some intriguing and exciting story lines to follow going in to Tuesday night’s contest with the Los Angeles Clippers, but the most important one is that the team is 20-26, five games out of the playoff race and in the midst of a four-game losing streak. That is the biggest story line that needs to change.

Dallas is not an untalented team, but they are an inconsistent team. Apart from the pretty amazing play from rookie sensation, Luka Doncic, the Mavs have gotten inconsistent results from essentially every other player on the team. Some of them really need a good game to get their confidence back.

One of those guys is Harrison Barnes. Barnes was expected to be a key player for the Mavs this year, using his veteran leadership and playmaking ability to help a team lacking in skilled leadership. That has not been the case as HB has been playing poorly and Luka has proven to be capable of leadership at 19 years old.

Wesley Matthews has also struggled a lot this season. He has played a lot of years of good basketball, but the best of those years are definitely behind him. Matthews is actually settling into his role a little better than he did at the start of the season, but the number of iso plays run through him is still horribly concerning.

Lastly, the main story line for tonight’s game is, of course, the return of 21-year old second year player, Dennis Smith Jr. The Mavs have been without Dennis for the past six games for various reasons and he has been out for 18 total games this year. As the Mavs try to reconcile with the explosive guard, expect him to have the ball a fair amount tonight. That is definitely not the worst situation for Dallas.

The Mavs will try to take down the surprising L.A. Clippers tonight, who are currently holding down the 7-seed in the West. The two teams split the first two meetings this season and will meet for the final time next month. L.A. is led by Tobias Harris, Danilo Gallinari, Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell.

Dallas and the Clippers will tip off tonight at 7:30pm central time. The game is being played on the Mavs home court where they hold a 16-6 record so far this season. Can Dallas continue their dominance on their own court? Let’s hope so, because the Mavs need a win.