Mavs vs. Blazers Preview: Can Depleted Dallas Defense Stop Damian Lillard?

With Maxi Kleber and Josh Green still out, the Dallas Mavericks will have their hands full trying to contain Damian Lillard and the fully-healthy Portland Trail Blazers.

Things won't get any easier for the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night as they take on Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers at American Airlines Center.

A little over a month ago, the Mavs defeated the Trail Blazers 117-112 at AAC after Spencer Dinwiddie out-dueled Lillard in the last three minutes of the game. After Lillard hit a 3-pointer to put the Blazers up 106-103 with 2:50 remaining, Dinwiddie proceeded to nail three 3-pointers in a row after that to essentially seal the victory for the Mavs.

In that game, Lillard finished with 29 points despite only making six field goals. He went 15-17 from the free-throw line. Jerami Grant led the way for Portland with a team-high 37 points on 13-22 shooting from the field, including 5-9 from deep. If those two put up those kind of numbers with Dallas having all of its best defenders available, it'll be interesting to see what happens on Friday given that both Maxi Kleber (hamstring tear) and Josh Green (elbow sprain) are out.

The Mavs' defense looked helpless in their most recent loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Lack of communication was a big problem for the Mavs, as the Cavs sliced and diced them with backdoor cuts all game long.

“Yeah, I think it was what you just said: breakdowns," said head coach Jason Kidd. "We just couldn't get to the cutter fast enough. So, we'll look at the tape and see where the mistakes were taking place. We'll work on them and get better.”

Unfortunately for the Mavs, there’s only so much “better” you can get when you’re missing your two best defenders. We’ll see if Luka Doncic and company can string together enough stops to get themselves back over .500 before playing a tough back-to-back in Cleveland.

Here's everything else you need to know about Wednesday's game.

RECORDS: Dallas Mavericks (14-14), Portland Trail Blazers (16-12)

WHEN: Friday, December 16, 2022 – 7:30 p.m. CT

WHERE: American Airlines Center (Dallas, TX)

TV: Bally Sports Southwest, NBA League Pass

RADIO: 97.1 The Freak, 99.1 FM Zona MX (Spanish)

ODDS: The Mavs are 3.5-point favorites over the Trail Blazers.

NEXT UP: The Mavs play the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second time in three games on Saturday night. After losing to Cleveland 105-90 at home with a day of rest on Wednesday night, it's scary to think about what might happen to Dallas on the second night of a back-to-back on the road this time around.

FINAL WORD: “He can stretch the floor,” said Kidd of Christian Wood’s impact in the loss to Cleveland. “When you look at Maxi [Kleber] and the things that Maxi can do with stretching the floor – their two bigs, Luka [Doncic] has to beat [Lamar] Stevens and then he has to deal with [the bigs] at the rim. So, with being able to have C-Wood on the floor, his ability to shoot, catch and drive, it helped us there in that first quarter and then helped us in the third.”

Dwight Powell started at center the last time the Mavs played the Trail Blazers, and he was a team-worst -15 on the night, while Wood was a +14 off the bench. Maybe Friday night will be the first time we get to see Doncic and Wood start together … but we won’t hold our breath.

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