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Bulls-Mavericks Preview

Mar 17, 2010 - 6:33 AM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Chicago (31-35) at Dallas (45-22), 8:30 p.m. EDT

Until a surprising home blowout, the Dallas Mavericks had thrived despite a handful of injuries, including facial surgery to their top reserve.

The Mavericks should get a little healthier Wednesday night with Jason Terry's expected return against the Chicago Bulls, who are dealing with their own injury problems.

Dallas (45-22) had five players miss time during a 13-game win streak that ended with Saturday night's home loss to New York. Erick Dampier sat out the first 12 victories (finger), and starters Brendan Haywood (lower back tightness) and Caron Butler (reaction to medication) missed two games each. Jose Juan Barea was also out for one game (sprained left ankle).

It was Terry's loss that was expected to have the most significant impact. The NBA's reigning sixth man of the year is the team's second-leading scorer with 17.0 points per game, and he averaged 20.8 points over five games before getting an elbow to the left side of his face in a win over Minnesota on March 3.

"I got really lucky because I didn't break my nose," he told the team's Web site. "I actually just broke my cheekbone."

Even without Terry, the Mavericks matched the NBA's longest win streak this season, but that run ended with the 128-94 loss to the Knicks. With 20 points, Dirk Nowitzki was the only Dallas player with more than 15, while New York had four score 20 or more.

The Knicks shot 56.2 percent, including 53.3 percent (16 of 30) from 3-point range.

"You especially don't want it to come to an end like this, but at the same time it was a great run," forward Shawn Marion said. "It seemed like everything we did out there wouldn't go right tonight."

Not much has gone right for the Bulls (31-35) since they shut down Joakim Noah because of plantar fasciitis on Feb. 27. At the time of Noah's injury, Chicago was sixth in the East, but it has fallen to ninth while losing each of the eight games its center has missed.

The Bulls were without each of their top four scorers Tuesday night in Memphis, but they nearly rallied past the Grizzlies in the fourth quarter before falling 104-97.

Trailing by 18 entering the fourth, Chicago cut the deficit to four with 28 seconds left before missing consecutive 3-point attempts. Flip Murray had 25 points, and Hakim Warrick added 22 in place of their missing teammates.

"If we played the way we played in the second half for 48 minutes, I think we would have a really good shot," Warrick said. "We just had some little mistakes that we couldn't overcome."

The Bulls will have guard Kirk Hinrich back from a one-game suspension for making contact with a referee. However, the statuses of All-Star point guard Derrick Rose (sprained wrist) and starting forward Luol Deng (strained calf) are uncertain. Noah will likely remain sidelined.

The potential absence of Rose, who scored 34 points in a 122-116 home loss to Dallas on March 6, could hurt as Chicago tries to avoid its 21st defeat in 24 games against the Mavericks. The Bulls have also dropped 11 of 12 in Dallas since the start of the 1997-98 season.

The Bulls' loss to the Mavericks earlier this month was one of 11 straight games in which they've given up at least 100 points. They haven't allowed opponents to reach the century mark in 12 in a row since a 25-game stretch from Dec. 21, 1985-Feb. 17, 1986.

Chicago is also on the verge of losing nine straight for the first time since the start of the 2004-05 season.