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Mavericks-Trail Blazers Preview

Mar 24, 2010 - 5:51 PM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

Dallas (47-24) at Portland (42-29), 10:30 p.m. EDT

As much as the Dallas Mavericks covet second place in the Western Conference, they may not want the spot if it means facing the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the playoffs.

Having lost both home games in the season series, the Mavericks look to beat the Blazers for the first time in 2009-10 on Thursday night.

A 13-game winning streak lifted Dallas (47-24) into contention for the No. 2 seed. The Mavericks then lost three of four before knocking off the Los Angeles Clippers 106-96 on Tuesday night.

Two of Dallas' next three games are against teams in playoff position. One is a Monday night matchup with Denver, the Mavs' main competition for second place, and Thursday's contest versus Portland (42-29) could very well be a first-round preview.

Dallas is 0-2 against Portland this season, losing twice at the American Airlines Center by a combined six points. The Blazers, in eighth place in the conference and within reach of the sixth spot, had won eight of nine before a 93-87 loss to Phoenix on Sunday night.

Portland has won four straight at home.

"We haven't beat them all year so this is a big game for us," Mavs guard Jason Terry said. "And then looking at Golden State and then Denver - so a big three-game stretch for us and we want to win them all."

Dallas will likely need to shore up its defense to beat Portland. The Blazers, a win away from taking a series from the Mavs for the first time since 1998-99, shot 53.5 percent in a 114-112 overtime win Jan. 30 in the teams' last matchup.

Dallas allowed an average of 112.8 points in four games prior to limiting the Clippers to 5-of-22 shooting in the fourth quarter.

"We're pretty good when we do that," point guard Jason Kidd said. "We might make or miss on the other end, but when we get stops that definitely helps us. We haven't been getting stops of late. After that little 13-game streak we had, we stopped doing that."

Kidd had a strong performance on his 37th birthday with a season-high 26 points and 12 assists. He has been held to 7.5 points and 31.8 percent shooting in his last 11 games versus the Blazers.

Portland has had its own shooting woes, making 34.3 percent over the last two games.

"The last couple of games we've struggled in the fourth quarter against zone defenses, so we've got to start picking that up," said Blazers leading scorer Brandon Roy, shooting 30.5 percent in his last three contests.

Roy led Portland with 23 points against the Suns, but the Blazers couldn't extend their win streak despite holding the league's highest-scoring team to 38.8 percent shooting.

Portland has allowed fewer than 82 points in three of its last four home games.

The Blazers may be without second-year guard Rudy Fernandez (quadriceps) for the second straight game. Fernandez, averaging 8.8 points and 1.1 steals, is listed as questionable.