The Mavericks head back home after losing their double-digit lead late in the fourth quarter of last night’s prime time game against San Antonio and look to bounce back against the third-best team in the Western Conference, the Denver Nuggets, in a potential playoff preview, depending on how each team finishes the season, as tip-off for this battle of Western powerhouses takes place at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Through the course of the past 10 games, both teams have gone up and down a rollercoaster choc’ full of wins and losses. Denver has gone 5-5 over the stretch of their past two weeks of play, and the Mavs have won six of their last 10 contests, so the need for stability down the back quarter stretch of the season is paramount for both teams as the 21st week of play rolls by.

The Clippers went 1-1 over the stretch of their last two games by beating the Warriors in a bounce-back effort from their loss to the Lakers, so as of now in the standings, Denver is in a tight tug-o’-war with the Clippers for the second seed in the West, and what better way to kickstart the momentum train than to beat the Luka-Doncic-engineered Mavericks and move sternly into 2nd place with a win. These Nuggets are coming off of a season sweep of the league-best Milwaukee Bucks with their win on Monday night and can move right up in the power rankings across every media with a huge win tonight on ESPN.

And this is what you have to love about the West. Every game matters and that sentiment couldn’t come as more truthful for Dallas, who is in that middle-of-the-pack scenario where with a win tonight, can climb to just 1.5 games out of the fourth seed and with a loss, can be bumped all the way back to the sixth seed, though they have a comfortable 6.5-game lead over the eighth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies. And during the closing months like these, every result can be your saving grace or the most inopportune obstacle lying into the path of a deep playoff run.

With the talent that both of these rosters, the game could go either way, making for a high-energy and exciting matchup on national television for the NBA fandom to witness.