Dallas Mavericks v/s Atlanta Hawks: NBA Preview
On Thursday night Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks will be entering the game with high stakes. Mavs, the defending champions will need every bit of confidence from the regular season as they will be putting their title on the
line. On the contrary Hawks are hoping to get the home-court advantage in the 1st round of postseason game.
Dallas, have recently skidded down to the 7th seed after receiving a 93-83 defeat from Chicago Bulls, they came into the game with couple of home victories but without their guards Jason Kidd and Jason Terry they couldn’t
survive in front of Derrick Rose and company.
Dirk Nowitzki hit a slump after scoring 35 against Houston Rockets early this week, he netted 17 against Bulls. The 7” forward has been displaying an impressive show lately and on Wednesday he sent the crowd into frenzy by scoring
21 of his 35 points in the 4th against Rockets.
In the upcoming match he will hold a cardinal position as the team has not announced which of the two veterans, Terry and Kid will suit up. So the team will require their big man Dirk to redeem the same show which he displayed
against Rockets.
Mavs coach Richard Preston Carlisle is holding the plan to rest his assets so that they will be ready for the big picture.’
“We're excited, and there's gonna be 15 other teams excited about the possibility as well," Carlisle said. "And we want to be healthy, we want to make sure we're thinking the right way, we want to make sure we have an edge and
to go into this thing - and when I say 'this thing' I mean the game Thursday and games beyond - with a mental edge and a real understanding for exactly how we've got to play to be successful."
On the contrary Hawks have set their eyes on the target to play the opening game of post season at home and for that they will have to beat Mavs. Though this is their 1st and only meeting of this season but Mavs have
won 19 of last 25 matches and they also swept them clean 2-0 in the 2010-2011 season.
Hawks have won 4 of their 5 last games and the most recent was the victory against Los Angeles Clippers. The show was stolen by Joe Johnson, as he hit a clock-beating 3-pointer from 30 feet with only 37 seconds remaining in the
game.
They are currently at the 5th berth and will compete against Boston Celtics in the 1st round, if they want to secure the home-ground advantage they will have to win the upcoming game.
Guard Willie Green stressed upon the importance of home-court.
"It's important to try to get home-court advantage," Green said. "We'll see what happens last game."
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