The Dallas Mavericks (23-50) will play the Portland Trailblazers (37-37) 9pm Friday at Moda Center. Both clubs last played Wednesday, with Portland extending its win streak to two against the Bucks 130-99, behind guard Scoot Henderson’s 23 points; and the Mavericks losing 142-135 against the Nuggets in Denver, their fifth straight setback. They were led by Cooper Flagg’s 26 points and Naji Marshall’s 22.
The Blazers, who clinched a spot in the Play-in Tournament with a win Monday, are 23-17 since the calendar turned to 2026 after stumbling out of the gate to a 14-20 start, a record built largely by beating the teams they’re supposed to beat. They’ve followed form thus far in this four-game homestand, dispatching Brooklyn and Milwaukee before facing the Mavericks and Wizards this weekend. They’ve also notched some impressive upset victories like the one last week against a feisty Minnesota team playing without Anthony Edwards, scratching out a tough 108-104 road win after blowing a lead that ballooned to 18 in the first half. The team has continued handling business since a left fibula stress reaction sidelined its second-leading scorer, wing Shaedon Sharpe, Feb. 6.
Friday’s game will be the third and final time these clubs meet in 2025-26 and the first time since Dec. 27, when Portland won at home 125-122. Dallas prevailed in overtime 138-133 at home Nov. 16, as four Mavericks- Flagg, Daniel Gafford, P.J.Washington, and Klay Thompson- scored 19 or more.
Strange brew
The Blazers are a pretty good, pretty weird team that ranks top-five league-wide in offensive rebounds, total rebounds, possessions, field goal attempts, three-point attempts, free throw attempts, second-chance points, and turnovers. Five rotation players take more than 6.2 three-pointers per game. They’ve got size that’s hard to match up with in center Donovan Clingan and wing Deni Avdija, and a third tone-setter in power forward Jerami Grant, whose toughness is hard to match. When the Timberwolves’ defense clamped down in the game’s final minutes March 20, Grant scored his team’s final eight points- a three to retake the lead, a three to keep the lead, and a pair of foul shots to ice it.
Grant returned Wednesday to hit four of 10 three-pointers against the Bucks, but when he sat against Brooklyn Monday with a calf injury, third-year forward Toumani Camara stepped up with 35 points, connecting on nine of 11 three-pointers. Camara’s lone qualifying two-point attempt in the game was a bold drive in which the lefty deftly switched hands for the finish when met at the rim by two Nets. His outburst Monday, a career high, followed up a four-of-six performance from deep in the loss against Denver.
Cling peach
Donovan Clingan, the league leader in offensive rebounding at 4.6 per contest, has taken a big step in his second year. The big man entered the league as a center in the traditional mold, and with 33 double-doubles and 1.7 blocks per game he’s done well in that role this season, but is also developing into a real three-point threat as the Blazers heat up down the stretch. In scoring a career high 28 last week against the Pacers he made three of five from deep, though the trend was already on display in two games early this season against Dallas, as Clingan made 14 of 21 field goals, including four of 10 three-pointers. It’s a fun development for a player who averaged 0.1 three-point attempts per game in his college career at UConn, and a huge challenge for the Mavericks, who missed Gafford Wednesday as he sat with a shoulder injury. In the first three minutes of the third quarter against the Bucks Clingan tip dunked a Camara miss from the wing, outfought Jericho Sims for a board on the other end, made a top of the key three that he was ready for when Avdija passed up after penetrating, cut for a reachback jam on a feed from Jrue Holiday, and set several hard screens. As with many of the Blazers’ strong suits, the offensive rebounding led by Clingan is not limited on the roster to his contributions. Reserve center Robert Williams III hauls in 2.4 in 17 minutes per game, a comparable clip.
Downhill Deni
Portland’s team identity centers around three core tenets: second chance-opportunities, high-volume three point shooting, and aggressive drives to the rim. Deni Avdija handles that third leg of the stool, softening up defenses by relentlessly taking it to the rack, where the first-time All-Star is a punishing finisher through contact, and by getting to the line, where he makes just over 80% of his league second-most 9.2 free throws. Though Avdija attempts a lot more threes, he’s got an offensive game that will look familiar to observers of Flagg attacking and finishing with little regard for his own safety.
The Blazers, who are separated from the Clippers by half a game as the two teams jockey for eighth place, will be highly motivated to maintain the momentum they’ve built so far at home. With a victory they would nudge their record above .500 for the first time since they were 6-5 on Nov. 12. The Mavericks, themselves a pretty weird team, figure to provide a more significant roadblock than the Nets or Bucks, however. In its last three games Dallas has taken two to overtime, ultimately dropping both contests to the Clippers and Warriors, and held firm against Denver, clawing within a point with three minutes remaining in the third. Nuggets guard Jamal Murray cooked the Mavericks from beyond the three-point line Wednesday, making nine of his 14 tries, but for as many three pointers as the Blazers attempt each game, they only make them at a rate of .339, good for 29th in the league.
How to watch/listen
You can watch the game on NBA TV, KFAA Channel 29, or MAVS TV (streaming), or listen at 97.1FM KEGL (English), and 99.1FM KFZO (español).