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Nuggets-Mavericks Preview

Mar 29, 2010 - 2:58 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Denver (48-25) at Dallas (48-25), 8:30 p.m. EDT

With little chance of catching the defending NBA champions for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, there's a tight race shaping up for second place.

The Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets conclude their regular-season series Monday in the teams' first matchup in Texas since last season's conference semifinals.

Neither club is playing its best right now. The Mavericks (48-25) have dropped four of seven to fall six games behind the reigning champion Los Angeles Lakers for the top spot in the West, but the Nuggets (48-26) are in a worse slump with four losses in their last five contests.

Thanks to Denver's woes, the Southwest Division-leading Mavericks moved one-half game ahead of the Nuggets for the No. 2 seed over the weekend.

"Every matchup we have is going to be big," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle told NBA.com following his club's 111-90 victory Saturday at Golden State. "Fortunately, we didn't have to run anybody's minutes up huge tonight which bodes well for Monday, but Denver's a terrific team coming in and we're going to have to be ready and play well."

Carlisle's club would benefit from improved play from Dirk Nowitzki, who had 13 points Saturday.

Thirty-one points shy of passing Bob Pettit (20,880) for 28th all-time, Nowitzki will try to avoid scoring fewer than 20 in five straight games for the first time since a six-game stretch Nov. 8-15, 2000.

Jason Kidd had 11 assists against the Warriors, but went scoreless and missed all five of his field-goal attempts. Rookie guard Rodrigue Beaubois helped pick up the slack, notching career highs of 40 points and nine 3-pointers made.

An encore from Beaubois could help the Mavericks get back on track and win consecutive games for the first time since March 10 - the final contest of their season-high 13-game winning streak.

"We're trying to get the highest seed we can, hopefully let it all out there the last 10 games," Nowitzki said. "We have a big game Monday with Denver. They're right there with us."

That's because the Nuggets aren't playing well, either. Denver fell to 1-3 on its five-game road trip after Sunday's 103-97 loss at Southeast Division-leading Orlando. The loss not only dropped the Nuggets behind the Mavs, but also into a tie with Utah for the Northwest lead. Phoenix lurks one-half game further back.

"I don't think that it's cause for concern," said Carmelo Anthony, who had 26 points Sunday but none in the fourth quarter. "It's just that it's happening right now, the last nine or 10 games of the season. But I don't think anybody on our team should be concerned about anything."

A Denver loss Monday, coupled with a Jazz victory over the New York Knicks, would give Utah sole possession of the division lead for the first time this season.

"We haven't been playing well," Nuggets interim coach Adrian Dantley said. "You're going to go through stretches like that during the year and we've just got to come back."

If Dantley's club can come back and beat the Mavericks on Monday, it will win this season series for the third straight year. The Nuggets and Mavs have split two meetings in Denver.

This will be the Mavericks' first home game against the Nuggets since a memorable 119-117 victory May 11 in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals. Anthony scored 41 points in that matchup, but Nowitzki countered with 44 to help Dallas avoid a sweep.

Denver went on to eliminate the Mavs in five games despite the efforts of Nowitzki, who averaged 34.4 points and shot 53.4 percent in the series.