The Dallas Mavericks return home on Thursday night to face the Atlanta Hawks on the heels of a five-game, 10-day road trip.
The game against Atlanta is the first of back-to-back home games and three in the next four days as Dallas looks to improve its playoff positioning as the regular season draws to a close.
“It’s just taking one game at a time, and learning from wins and losses, and then going forward with the next game, and that’s Atlanta,” head coach Jason Kidd explained to the media after Tuesday’s loss to Golden State. “That’s the only one we’re focused on. We can’t scoreboard watch. We can only take care of what’s in front of us, and we control where we will be seeded at the end of seven more games.”
The Mavericks went 4-1 on the road trip, losing the finale to the Warriors 104-100 on Tuesday night to end a seven-game winning streak. The loss keeps Dallas in fifth place in the Western Conference and evens the regular-season series with the Warriors at 1-1.
“We’re not seeking perfection,” guard Kyrie Irving told the media. “We’re seeking incremental progress and being able to be tested in situations like this so we can be prepared for the playoffs. That’s how I see it.”
Golden State will come to town on Friday night, looking to take the season series and try to improve its chances of breaking into the top-six in the West and avoid play-in games.
While the Warriors controlled much of Tuesday’s game, Dallas battled back to tie it late in the fourth quarter yet could not convert its opportunities to come away with the win.
“We had some great looks that just didn’t go down, and that just happens sometimes,” Kidd said. “The road trip was long, but we’re not going to use that as an excuse. We truly believe we put ourselves in a position to win tonight’s game, but we came up short.”
As the team returns to Dallas, the Mavs will look to take advantage of their home court, with three games to try to gain ground on the fourth-place Los Angeles Clippers, who lead Dallas by two games. The Clippers play two playoff teams over the weekend and four in their next five games, giving Dallas plenty of chances to catch up.
The first chance comes against Atlanta at 6:30 p.m. CT on Thursday, followed by Golden State on Friday and Houston on Sunday.
