Luka Doncic and the Mavs are 'Back to Work': Mavs at Magic GAMEDAY
The NBA All-Star break couldn't have come at a better time for the Dallas Mavericks. Yes, the Mavs went into the break on a high note by blowing out the Sacramento Kings at home and equalling their win total for the entire 2018-2019 season, but overall, they had been playing some sluggish, .500 basketball, mainly due to fatigue and injuries.
After having a little over a week off, the Mavs seem to be well-rested again and fully healthy, aside from Dwight Powell's achilles injury, of course. Dallas has a fairly easy stretch of games in the coming weeks, with 12 of the next 17 games being against teams with losing records, and that stretch begins tonight in Orlando against the Magic.
Game Time: 6:00 p.m. CT
Location: Amway Center, Orlando
TV/Radio: FSSW, 103.3 FM, Univision, 1270 AM (Spanish)
Records: Mavericks (33-22), Magic (24-31)
The last time these two teams met, the Mavs squeaked out a 107-106 win at American Airlines Center, despite the menacing play of Magic forward Jonathan Isaac, who finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, four steals and six blocks. Isaac stuffed the stat-sheet and frustrated the Mavs -- especially Kristaps Porzingis, who only finished with 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting -- all night long. Dallas won't have to worry about Isaac in this one, however, because he's out due to a knee injury.
Doncic scored 27 points on 10-of-21 from the field to go along with seven rebounds and seven assists in that last game against Orlando. With Isaac out, don't be surprised if we see both Doncic and Porzingis carry over from their combined 60-point, 25-rebound, 13-assist performance against Sacramento from last week. On the defensive end, the Mavs will still need to find a way to slow down Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier (who is having a career year shooting the ball) if they hope to win comfortably.
Aside from the actual basketball game, there's another cool thing that's going to happen in Orlando tonight. Mavs assistant and former player Darrell Armstrong will be inducted into the Magic Hall of Fame. In nine seasons with the Magic, Armstrong averaged 12 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals per game. He will be just the fifth player in Magic history to be inducted into the franchise's Hall of Fame.
