Dallas Mavericks look to tie season series against Utah Jazz

The Dallas Mavericks are getting ready to play the Utah Jazz. Again, you may ask? Yes, again. It's the fourth and final game of the season between these two bad basketball teams, and the third in the last nine days. Utah owns the season lead, 2-1, so this game could have big implications on final draft lottery odds down the line.

These two just played on Thursday night in Dallas, with the Mavericks coming away with a dominant 144-122 win despite Cooper Flagg, Anthony Davis, and Kyrie Irving, as well as a host of other players, all being out. Utah was missing Lauri Markkanen, and they were down by 38 to a starting lineup of Brandon Williams, Jaden Hardy, Naji Marshall, Caleb Martin, and Dwight Powell.

Now, to Caleb Martin's credit, he's played really well these last two games. But just think about that, we're giving Caleb Martin credit. Imagine saying that a week ago. That's how embarrassing Utah's performance was on Thursday night.

Markkanen will be out again, so we'll see what kind of effort they come out with in this game. They do have a draft pick that is top-8 protected; otherwise, it goes to the San Antonio Spurs, so the Jazz are going to try to bottom out here at some point. With the way that they're unethically tanking, they better not be rewarded for it.

Cooper Flagg will also likely be out of this game as he deals with an ankle injury. There's no reason to play him until he's 100% healthy, and considering the Mavericks had their highest scoring game of the season with him out, they might as well roll with it. Let guys like Caleb Martin and Jaden Hardy try to drum up some trade value, because that's what should matter most to the Mavericks right now. The sooner they can get off these bad contracts, the better.