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- Playing their fourth game in five nights, the road-weary Warriors will not have center Andrew Bogut and could be without guard Jarrett Jack. Bogut played a season-high 28 minutes in last night’s loss at Memphis and has yet to play on back-to-back nights since returning from a 38-game absence due to a left ankle injury. Jack has missed the last three games with a right shoulder contusion. He is a game-time decision.
- Stephen Curry scored 20 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter and overtime in the Warriors’ last game in Dallas, a 105-101 victory on Nov. 19. He sat out the second meeting, a 100-97 win at Golden State on Jan. 31, with a sprained right ankle. A win tonight would give the Warriors their first season sweep against the Mavericks in six years.
- Dirk Nowitzki did not play in either of the first two games against Golden State, missing the first while recovering from knee surgery and the second with a right adductor strain. In 51 career contests against the Warriors, he has averaged 22.5 points and 7.5 rebounds.
- It’s a hairy situation in Dallas, where several players have vowed to grow out their beards until the Mavericks (21-28) get back to .500. “The beards are great, but growing a beard is not going to make you play well,” coach Rick Carlisle cautioned. “Growing a beard and everybody doing it and everybody playing hard and everybody being there for each other in the games and making a commitment to play hard and keep things simple — that’s what creates success, and I think the guys understand that.”
– Dave Ivey
