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Nets-Mavericks Preview

Mar 9, 2010 - 9:43 PM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

New Jersey (7-56) at Dallas (44-21), 8:30 p.m. EDT

Even with a shortened bench, the Dallas Mavericks keep getting quality efforts from their rotation. It could be even thinner Wednesday night, but there's little reason to think they won't keep winning.

The Mavericks go for their 13th straight victory while extending the woeful New Jersey Nets' decade-long losing streak in Dallas.

With Jason Terry (facial surgery), Brendan Haywood (back) and Erick Dampier (dislocated finger) sidelined, the Mavericks (44-21) had only nine players available Monday in Minnesota but rolled to a 125-112 victory.

"It's been a true team," coach Rick Carlisle said. "Somebody's down a little, somebody else picks him up. ... When you get on a roll like this, those kinds of things have got to happen."

With Terry not expected to return until later this month, J.J. Barea has seen increased minutes in the Dallas backcourt. However, the point guard left Monday's game with an ankle injury and was taken for X-rays, though he told the team's official Web site he thinks his foot is sprained and not broken.

"Let's hope so," Dirk Nowitzki said. "It's time we started getting everybody healthy."

Shawn Marion, whose previous season high was 18 points, scored 29 and grabbed 14 rebounds as Dallas extended the league's longest active winning streak and the franchise's best since a 17-0 stretch from Jan. 27-March 11, 2007.

With Haywood out the last two games and Dampier injured for the last 12, the Mavericks have been successful using a zone defense to match up with bigger opponents. Nowitzki, though, does not see this as a long-term solution.

"Small ball is just not going to win against the big boys," said Nowitzki, seven points shy of passing George Gervin (20,708) for 30th all-time.

Even if both centers aren't available for the beginning of a four-game homestand, Nowitzki and the Mavericks might not have to worry about what style of play they use against the Nets (7-56), who have lost nine straight in Dallas since March 2, 2000. Most of those matchups were blowouts, with the Mavs winning by an average of 15.6 points.

New Jersey - one of the league's worst rebounding teams with 39.2 per game - was outrebounded 42-28 by Dallas in a 117-101 defeat Dec. 2.

Nowitzki scored 24 points and former Nets guard Jason Kidd had 16 points, 10 assists and eight boards, helping the Mavericks shoot 81 percent while building a 77-50 halftime lead.

Getting behind early has been a disturbing trend for the Nets, who need three wins in their final 19 games to avoid matching the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers for the NBA's worst all-time record. New Jersey has been outscored in the first quarter by an average of 12.3 points in its last four games.

"We definitely don't like to give teams head starts the way we've been doing," Devin Harris said after scoring 28 points in Monday's 107-101 loss at Memphis. "Once we correct that, it will be easier to contend in that fourth quarter, instead of coming back from big deficits."

Since the Mavs dealt him to New Jersey in the Kidd trade two years ago, Harris has gone 8 of 30 from the field while averaging 13.5 points in two trips back to Dallas.

Courtney Lee is averaging 27.5 points in the first two games of New Jersey's five-game trip after scoring a career-high 30 on Monday.

The Nets will try for a third consecutive season series split with Dallas, but they are 1-22 against the Western Conference this season.