The Dallas Mavericks won the first meeting by going off in the fourth quarter. They hope to avoid digging deep tomorrow with Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis both questionable due to injuries.

HOME TEAM: Dallas Mavericks (34-23, 15-14 at home)

We should see a pissed off Mavericks team take the floor. On Sunday, they lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 111-107, that was sealed after a confusing goaltending call with under 10 seconds remaining.

With Luka and Kristaps sidelined, Tim Hardaway was being the most relied upon scorer. He got busy and enjoyed his return to Atlanta by firing away six threes and scoring a team-high 33 points. Seth Curry played second fiddle and added 22 points.

Hardaway (21.6 PPG in his last eight) and Curry (17.8 PPG in his last six) will remain as primary options should the two Euro stars sit out again. Both are not consistent scorers but it’s encouraging that they are on good stretches.

ROAD TEAM: Minnesota Timberwolves (16-39, 9-18 on the road)

The Timberwolves have lost 17 of their last 18 games. That one win? An emphatic 142-115 win against the LA Clippers on the road – with a healthy Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, no less. Yeah, they’re weird like that.

Karl-Anthony Towns is out for the next two weeks due a wrist injury, which will leave D’Angelo Russell as the key man on offense. He’s averaging 22 points and 9.7 rebounds in three games with the T-Wolves. He was rested on Monday’s game versus the Denver Nuggets and is expected to return tomorrow.

Helping out D-Lo is another Minnesota newcomer, Malik Beasley, who’s averaging 22 points in five games. However, there’s plenty of other Wolves to aid in production. Against the Nuggets, six other guys joined Beasley in scoring in double figures – Jordan McLaughlin, Josh Okogie, James Johnson, Jarrett Culver, and Kelan Martin, who had a career-best and team-high 21 points.

PREDICTION:

The Mavs are terrible at home for some reason, but I believe they have enough to move past the young Wolves, especially since Minny is playing in consecutive nights. Dallas wins a hard-fought game, 116-112.