SR – NBA Primetime Preview: Denver Nuggets at Dallas Mavericks

Wednesday NBA on ESPN action is ready to go for the channel’s third televised contest of the new decade, featuring the 25-11 Denver Nuggets taking a trip down south to duel with the 23-win Dallas Mavericks at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Though Dallas is only two games down the rankings compared to the second-place Nuggets, tonight may tell a different story regarding these new-look Mavericks, considering that All-Star and MVP-caliber forward Luka Doncic will be without his main comrade in Kristaps Porzingis after the 7’3 Latvian center suffered a slight knee injury that’s kept him on the bench ever since their 108-95 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers back on December 29.

They’re forced to encounter a now scorching-hot Nuggets team that’s won 11 of their last 14 games and another MVP candidate in Nikola Jokic who is giving all teams fits both on the glass and in the scoring department, averaging a whopping 27 points and 8.3 rebounds in his last three games.

Speaking of his last outing, he dropped a career-high against the Hawks on Monday night, recording an insane 47 points off an efficient 16-of-25 shooting performance with four three balls to boot. He’s finding his groove and the results of every piece of Mike Malone’s rotation pitching in has done wonders for a team that opponents are now gaining a sense of inefficacy in trying to topple them on a nightly occurrence.

The Nuggets’ road trip begins this week with a team that they lost to the last time they squared off against in Rick Carlisle’s Mavericks who are in sixth place in the Western Conference. Dallas, however, doesn’t pose as much of a threat on their home floor as they do on the road, only culminating an average-at-best 11-8 record in the American Airlines Center this year. They’re excited to have pieces in Tim Hardaway Jr. back from an ankle injury, posting a respectable 15 points in a return win over the Bulls earlier this week, but will really have to dig deep to take down another Western powerhouse if they are to find a way to their 24th win of the season on Wednesday night.