 Phoenix Suns |
|
 Dallas Mavericks |
| 18-7 | 17-9 | |
| 7:30 PM Mountain / 9:30 PM Eastern | ||
| TV: My45 HD, ESPN | ||
| Probable starters: | ||
| Steve Nash | PG | Devin Harris |
| Raja Bell | SG | Eddie Jones |
| Grant Hill | SF | Josh Howard |
| Shawn Marion | PF | Dirk Nowitzki |
| Amare Stoudemire | C | Erick Dampier |
After going through a rough patch to start the month of December, the Mavericks look to have righted the ship again just in time to face the Suns tonight in Dallas. The Mavericks opened December with a 3-4 swoon that had some around here wondering if they were fading. But they bring a three-game winning streak into tonight's meeting, and at 11-2, have been nearly as unbeatable at home this season as the Spurs. Fresh off of Monday's victory over the Spurs, the Sun will once again test their conference-best road record against a team with a very tough home court advantage. Avoiding a letdown will be key.
The Suns have gone toe-to-toe with the Mavericks the past three seasons. Nearly all have been close games decided in the final minutes or overtime. The Mavericks have usually taken the early-season games, and the Suns have won the ones after the All-Star break. Unfortunately, after three straight seasons of highly entertaining late-February or March games in Dallas, the schedule-makers have decided one trip to Dallas is enough this time. Therefore, if the Suns want a win in Dallas before the playoffs, they'll have to do it tonight.
With this being the rare game that jasonsuns1 can watch instead of just listen to, I'm giving him the live blogging and recap honors tonight while I take some time to get caught up on all the Christmas-related stuff that fell behind from several days of traveling (or to just sit back and enjoy the game without worrying about blogging it, should it turn out to be one of those riveting affairs that demands my full attention). Check the comments during the game for the live blog, and the the diaries afterwards for the recap.
It's too bad we won't get to see one of these mid-March classics in Dallas this season, but maybe we can get one tonight: