Porzingis & Beal OUT: Mavs At Wizards GAMEDAY
The Dallas Mavericks travel to Washington D.C. looking for a win vs. the Wizards to improve the Mavs' ever-important NBA playoff seeding and finish their five-game road trip strong... and with their their head coach back on the sideline after a COVID-19 scare.
Mavs coach Rick Carlisle, who was fully vaccinated in January, tested positive for the coronavirus Friday morning in New York and entered safety protocols while awaiting results of further testing. He sat at the team hotel hoping for a false-positive test, instead of coaching what would've been his 1,500 NBA game as a head coach at Madison Square Garden.
The Mavs, guided by assistant coach Jamahl Mosley (with his first-ever head-coaching win) pulled away late to record a 99-86 victory vs. the Knicks. And the Mavs players sure enjoyed the moment ...
Carlisle has rejoined the team and has been cleared to fly with the Mavs to to the nation's capitol to battle the Wizards before returning home to face the Utah Jazz on Monday.
So, in a re-do of Carlisle's big milestone 1,500 game (though technically the official head coach gets credit for the Friday outing), the Mavs can raised their record to six games over .500 for the first time this season. ... While the Wizards need a win after losing 10 of their last 13 games.
[READ: Luka Doncic: Echoing Legends, Chasing Ghosts On Mavs' East Coast Trip]
[READ: Redick Aims To Help '2 Mavs Unicorns' To Playoffs Success]
ODDS: The Mavs entered the day as 6-point favorites over the Wizards, and the total over/under is 227 points.
BETTING TRENDS: The Mavs are 1-6 against-the-spread in their last 7 games playing on 0 days rest. The Wizards are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 Saturday games and 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games playing on 1 days rest. The under is 13-5 in Mavericks last 18 overall. The under is 4-1 in Wizards last 5 overall.
RECORDS: Dallas Mavericks (25-21) at Washington Wizards (17-30)
WHEN: Saturday, April 3, 2021 at 6:00 pm CT
LOCATION: Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
TV/RADIO: Bally Sports Southwest, NBA Leaguepass, ESPN 103.3 FM, Univision 1270 AM
FINAL WORD: Knicks fans again booed Kristaps Porzingis all night, who finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.
“The reaction was what I expected again, of course,” Porzingis, the fourth overall pick by the Knicks in 2015 said. “I’m happy we got the win. We lost the last two last season (to the Knicks) and tonight we grinded this game and got the W on the road against them. They’re a tough team and they played really good defense on me and on us in general."
