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Mavericks seek 12th straight win over lowly Sonics

Jan 19, 2008 - 3:45 PM Seattle (9-30) at Dallas (26-12) 9:00 pm EST

DALLAS (Ticker) - The Dallas Mavericks look to continue their dominance over the reeling Seattle SuperSonics when the teams meet on Saturday.

The Mavericks enter the contest riding impressive 11-game winning streak over the SuperSonics, who haven't captured a win in the series since December 9, 2004.

In the their first meeting on January 11, Dirk Nowitzki scored 20 points and teammate Josh Howard supplied pressure defense on Seattle rookie Kevin Durant in Dallas' 90-70 victory.

Dallas is looking to bounce back from its disappointing 122-120 letdown to the Sacramento Kings in the finale of its three-game road trip Wednesday.

"We are not going to win many games giving up 122 points," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "We just got broken down all over the place. We didn't do a good job protecting the basket. Our support defense wasn't there."

Seattle aims to kill two birds with one stone after dropping its ninth consecutive game on Friday, a 124-100 setback at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies.

"When you're on the road, you've got to be ready to play right away, or else teams are going to put you away early," Sonics forward Wally Szczerbiak said. "I think that's the recipe against us. Teams are getting big leads early, and we can't really come back on them."

Seattle is just one loss away from tying the franchise record for most losses in a single season, set during the 1968-69 season.