Preview: Mavericks travel to face fast-paced Pacers

The Dallas Mavericks are in a stretch of playing nine straight games against the Eastern Conference, with this game against the Indiana Pacers being the second. Dallas is still trying to figure out if they're going to compete for the Play-In Tournament, as they've lost eight of the last nine games. Indiana, meanwhile, has had a crazy stretch of basketball with two insane buzzer-beaters.

The Mavs are coming off a tight loss to the tanking Philadelphia 76ers, as former Maverick Quentin Grimes had 28 points. P.J. Washington had a strong game in his first game back from injury with a 29-point double-double. They'll need that to continue as the two-way players start to run out of eligibility soon.

Indiana has had some wild games recently, winning three of the last four, but how they've got two of those has been absurd. Tyrese Haliburton hit a wild shot over Giannis Antetokounmpo for a four-point play game-winner against the Milwaukee Bucks. Then, Obi Toppin hit a similar shot from the same spot on the floor with the same time remaining to sink the Minnesota Timberwolves in overtime. The Pacers are trying to secure homecourt advantage for the first round of the playoffs,

The Pacers and Mavs have played once already this season, with Indiana coming away with a 134-127 win in early November in Dallas.