The Dallas Mavericks (9-16), winners of four of their last five games, welcome the Brooklyn Nets (6-17) to American Airlines Center on Friday after a full five days off since their last game. The Nets come into Dallas on the same five nights\u2019 rest after winning three of their last four, including Saturday\u2019s 119-111 win over the lowly New Orleans Pelicans. Michael Porter Jr. had a game-high 35 points and nine rebounds in that win and comes into the game averaging nearly 26 points and eight boards a night.<\/p>\n
Cam Thomas, the Nets\u2019 second-leading scorer (21.4 points per game) this year, is out for Friday\u2019s game with a left hamstring injury.<\/p>\n
Three of the Mavs\u2019 four wins in their last five games have come against some of the top teams in the NBA this year. After barely getting by the Los Angeles Clippers, 114-110, on Nov. 29<\/a>, Dallas rattled off wins against the Miami Heat<\/a>, the Denver Nuggets<\/a> and the Houston Rockets<\/a>, with an understandable, if not also somewhat deflating, blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in between. Brooklyn\u2019s latest three wins, on the other hand, have come against the 4-16 Charlotte Hornets, the 5-16 Chicago Bulls and the 6-17 Pelicans.<\/p>\n Even if you believe the Mavericks\u2019 latest run of success has been fool\u2019s gold, their four latest wins have been far more convincing than the Nets\u2019 have. Here are three more good omens for the Mavs\u2019 continued success as they welcome the Nets to town.<\/p>\n Bad against bad, and good against bad<\/p>\n The Mavs\u2019 offense has found new life with Ryan Nembhard at starting point guard. They\u2019re turning the ball over less and are running out to quick transition scoring opportunities as Cooper Flagg continues to bloom in his rookie season. Though they\u2019re still 29th in the league in offensive rating (108.6), they look much better on offense in their last six games. It helps that the Nets bring to town with them just the 27th-best defensive rating (119.8) in the NBA. The new-look Mavs should have no problem scoring against the flimsy brand of defense the Nets have been playing this year.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Brooklyn is equally bad on offense. The Nets rank just 23rd in the NBA in offensive rating (112.3), while the Mavs enter the game with the seventh-ranked defensive rating (112.3). If ever there was a tailor-made opponent for a struggling 9-16 team trying to keep its head above water, it\u2019s these Brooklyn Nets without Thomas.<\/p>\n Gafford\u2019s health progressing<\/p>\n He may not ultimately be available for Friday\u2019s game against the Nets, but Daniel Gafford is apparently making progress in his recovery from the ankle injury he re-aggravated in the win over the Heat last week. He was listed as doubtful to play against the Nets on Thursday\u2019s 8:30 p.m. NBA injury report. The doubtful tag is an upgrade from his status for the last couple of games, and the additional \u201cinjury management\u201d tag applied to his status bodes well in this case.<\/p>\n