Mavericks continue West Coast trip against Portland Trail Blazers

The Dallas Mavericks are continuing to travel up the West Coast, hoping to make up for their road woes with a matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers. They're coming off a loss to the West's worst Sacramento Kings on Saturday afternoon, which made it six straight losses on the road. Their last road win was against the Denver Nuggets on December 1st, and this game will be on December 29th.

This is the second meeting between Portland and Dallas this year, with the Mavericks coming away with a 138-133 overtime win at home. It was a balanced scoring effort from the Mavs, as four different players scored at least 19 points. That helped them make up for Shaedon Sharpe scoring 36 points and Deni Avdija putting up 29.

Dallas is currently playing without Anthony Davis, who went down with another injury on Christmas Day. It was originally supposed to keep him out for a few games, but the Mavericks keep listing him as questionable. It's hard to imagine him playing in this game, though.

Cooper Flagg has still been outstanding recently, averaging 26.3 PPG, 6.6 RPG, and 5.8 APG over his last eight games, and he's going to be even more important with Davis out. But he's getting better by the week, especially with the three-point shot. He's now made 9 of his last 14 threes over the last four games. It's way too early to tell if that will keep up, but this is how his season at Duke went.

Dec 25, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) during the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Portland started as one of the peskier teams in the NBA, knocking off the OKC Thunder and the Denver Nuggets in the first few weeks of the season. They've fallen back down to reality since, and have lost three straight games, including a 16-point loss to the LA Clippers. However, they bounced back on Sunday night with a win over the surprisingly good Boston Celtics. This will be the second night of a back-to-back for the Blazers.

Deni Avdija has broken out as a favorite for the Most Improved Player race, as he's averaging a wild more than 25 points per game, a nearly 10 PPG jump from last season. Shaedon Sharpe and Jerami Grant are also averaging at least 20 PPG, giving them a good scoring trio, but it's been rough on both sides of the ball as a team.