Mavs at Warriors Preview: When Luka Doncic Redefines 'Momentum'

The Golden State Warriors have a little bit of momentum. The Dallas Mavericks have a lot of it. Tonight, "Big 'Mo'' is going to have to choose a side.

Luka Doncic is back in action for a 20-10 Mavs team that is obviously buoyed by his return after missing four games with an ankle injury; on Thursday he was good for 24 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in a 102-98 home win over the Spurs, who were left with the impression that Luka is "Magic Johnson-like.''

"I'm not going to lie,'' said Luka, who played 33 minutes in that game. "I was pretty tired going to the end of the game. It's difficult when you're out like four or five games. You've got to catch up, and it's going to get better."

That's promising for a Mavs club that has won 14 of the last 19 games, and is 11-3 on the road, all of that adding up to a No. 5 position in the West. Doncic - averaging 29.1 points, 9.6 rebounds and 8.8 assists, with eight triple-doubles - is central to all of that, as the Warriors well know. One of his triple-doubles was delivered on Nov. 20 in Dallas when he was good for 35 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in a 142-94 crushing of the Warriors.

Will tonight be different? Golden State's championship pedigree is largely either departed or injured, but they have won four straight games, with a starting lineup expected to feature guards D'Angelo Russell and Damion Lee, with Draymond Green, Willie Cauley-Stein and Glenn Robinson III upfront.

"We have a little momentum and our guys are feeling it," Warriors coach Steve Kerr.

But this "momentum'' is relative. The Warriors are just 9-24, in last place in the West. They'll be playing on the second night of a back-to-back and they'll be playing a Dallas that once upon a time lost 19 of 21 to Golden State before starting its present two-game winning streak.

And most of all, they'll be opposing a Mavs club that is "a historically good offensive team'' led by a healthy Luka Doncic.

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