Preview: Depleted Dallas Mavericks travel to Milwaukee to face Bucks

The Dallas Mavericks and Milwaukee Bucks just played in Dallas four days ago. A rematch is already coming in Milwaukee, and the Mavericks somehow look vastly different due to injuries and roster moves. How did things go so sideways?

Dallas lost 122-98 to the Sacramento Kings on Monday night, but the bigger news coming out of the game was the injury news. Jaden Hardy is expected to miss extended time after spraining his right ankle for the third time this season, and tests confirmed that Kyrie Irving tore his ACL. Those injuries, especially Irving's, overshadowed a brutal third quarter where the Mavs lost all momentum and hope, one of the few times we've seen that this season from a team that has generally had the next-man-up mentality.

Milwaukee will be playing on the second night of a back-to-back, as they were in Atlanta playing the Hawks on Tuesday. Giannis Antetokounmpo had a monster first half in that game with 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. He'd finish with 26, 12, and 10 as the Bucks would go on to win 127-121. Milwaukee led 121-113 with 3:04 to go, but the Hawks came back to tie it with 1:02 remaining. The Bucks scored the final six points of the game, though.

The Bucks just beat the Mavs 132-117 in Dallas on Saturday, and that was with Kyrie Irving playing and putting up 31 points. Little did we know that would be the last full game we'd see Irving play this season.