A potential Western Conference finals preview and one of the NBA’s better rivalries headlines the NBA action on Thursday night when Dallas travels to San Antonio, with the Spurs 4.5-point favorites on WagerWeb.com.
The Spurs, who are a half-game ahead of New Orleans and a game in front of Dallas in the Southwest Division entering Thursday, will be going for their seventh straight win and fourth in a row at home, where they are 23-5 this year.
But this will be a new Dallas team that San Antonio will face. The Mavericks are 3-1 since point guard Jason Kidd's arrival, though all three victories came against teams likely lottery bound and the loss was to New Orleans. In those four games, Kidd has averaged 8.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 11.3 assists, 3.8 steals and has revitalized Dallas' transition offense and passing game. The Mavs have scored at least 98 points in those three wins.
"We're fully aware Dallas just added a Hall of Fame player to their club," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "And that makes them even better."
The Mavs’ offense still revolves around Dirk Nowitzki, who has averaged 31.5 points and 9.3 rebounds in the last six games and is shooting 60.9 percent in the last four. Dallas could use a healthy Josh Howard, who has shot 29.3 percent in his last four games and has scored more than 20 once in his last eight games.San Antonio will see another new Maverick in addition to Kidd, as the Mavs, in part to make up for the loss of DeSagana Diop in the trade for the point guard, signed 6-foot-11 former All-Star Jamaal Magloire on Wednesday.
Magloire will debut tonight after signing for a pro-rated share of the league's $1.03 million veteran minimum. The 29-year-old was waived by New Jersey on Friday after the trading deadline passed. Yes, Magloire only managed to get into 24 games for the Nets, averaging a mere 1.8 points and 3.4 rebounds, but he gives Dallas a big body to bang against Tim Duncan and the other West big men.
San Antonio’s best player of late hasn’t been Duncan but Manu Ginobili. In his last three games, he has averaged 29 points, 6.3 assists and 3.7 rebounds, in spite of a 13-point game in his last outing. He made 14 of 23 3-pointers in those games. He is averaging 24.8 points per game during 12-game streak as starter.
"If you don't get Ginobili under control, you're going to struggle," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said.
Meanwhile, Spurs forward Kurt Thomas made his San Antonio debut in Monday’s win over the Hawks, grabbing nine rebounds. Thomas was acquired last week from Seattle.
The Spurs have won 10 of their last 11, allowing an average of 87.1 points over that stretch while retaking the Southwest Division lead.
This is the third of four matchups this season. Both teams have split a pair of meetings so far, while Dallas has won four of five and five of the last seven against San Antonio. And the Mavericks have won three of their last four trips to San Antonio.
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