NBA Matchups: November 15

Dallas Mavericks (back end) at Washington Wizards

Team Totals: Mavs 125.8, Wizards 119.8

Injury Report: Mavs B2B, Delon Wright (O, knee)

Mavs projected starters: Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Derrick Jones Jr., Grant Williams, Dereck Lively II

Wizards projected starters: Tyus Jones, Jordan Poole, Deni Avdija, Kyle Kuzma, Daniel Gafford

Kidd quotes: Said the guys are still getting used to the pace, said Kyrie is starting to turn the corner after taking it easier in the offseason.

Unseld quotes: Said he liked the shots at the rim they were getting, said the Raps turned up their physicality and it bottled them up late.

Stats and Notes: 

*The Mavs are on a B2B, so we could certainly be on rest watch in a game the Mavs should get without 1-2 of their key players. The matchup is about as good as it gets against the 28th-ranked Wizards defense that gives it up basically everywhere. The Wizards just let teams get easy opportunities with their 74.5% of possessions allowed coming in the halfcourt. They can’t defend the rim, and they’re getting killed on jumpers. On the other side, the Mavs have lost their grip on defense a bit, ranking 21st because of poor rebounding. The Wizards love to get to the rim, so there’s a chance they can hang around if the Mavs have some tired legs.

*The good news for the Mavs is they got smoked in the Big Easy, so a lot of guys had light minutes. Luka Doncic got clamped a bit by Dyson Daniels and Herb Jones, and he turned in one of the worst games of his career. Luka’s role isn’t quite as good this year with his drives coming way down, and his usage is down slightly. Still, this matchup is so good and he could smash all over Deni Avdija. He might pop up on the injury report here.

*Kyrie Irving is also at risk of missing this game, which means you should be ready at #28After. If he’s a full go, this matchup is obviously quite good, and Irving does look to be in better shape after he said he took off so much time in the offseason. Still, Kyrie’s on-ball game isn’t what we’re used to, and he’s still more of a second option than a 1B to Luka. I’d prefer Luka by a decent bit (even with the price gap).

*Dereck Lively has lost his mojo a bit, but this matchup is about as good as it gets. On top of just bad defense overall, the Wizards allow the second-most points off offensive rebounds. With Maxi Kleber still hurt, maybe we can get a ceiling game out of Lively.

*Kyle Kuzma continues his growth as an offensive weapon with a strong role from a touch perspective to go with his career-high 31.6 usage rate to put him in elite company. On top of that, the Wizards are just flying with having the top five players in pace (min. 25 minutes — Deni, Tyus, Kuzma, Bilal, and Poole). He’ll get a lot of Grant Williams, and Kuz should have good looks from the outside.

*Jordan Poole could be in a decent spot. We finally saw him hit 35 minutes for the first time since Oct. 28, and the spread isn’t bad in this one. Poole also led his team in potential assists in the last game, and Tyus Jones not seeing an increase in his role could give Poole more chances to set up the offense. While the pace and role are good, Poole still hasn’t hit his peak yet. Poole’s PNR game has not been there at 0.69 PPP, and the volume has ticked down a bit recently. Still, it should be a lot of Josh Green and maybe even some Kyrie Irving, so maybe we finally get a Poole breakout.

*Daniel Gafford should benefit from this matchup against a bad rim defense. The Mavs allow the sixth-most possessions to offensive rebounders, and Gafford’s thumb injury didn’t seem to affect him too much.

Great matchups: The Mavs

Good matchups: Jordan Poole, Daniel Gafford

Bad matchups: Nobody

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New York Knicks at Atlanta Hawks (back end)

Team Totals: Knicks 114.8, Hawks 113.3

Injury Report: Hawks B2B, R.J. Barrett (Q, migraine)

Knicks projected starters: Jalen Brunson, Quentin Grimes, R.J. Barrett, Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson

Hawks projected starters: Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, De’Andre Hunter, Jalen Johnson, Clint Capela

Thibodeau quotes: Said they didn’t close out any of the quarters with 1Q and 3Q being the worst, said he liked how Hart handled Tatum but Tatum was just too good.

Snyder quotes: Basically just talked about non-linear growth and the in-season tourney at practice, said they have to execute through their defense.

Stats and Notes:

*Trae Young missed Tuesday to be with his new family member, and it’s unclear if he’ll be back for this one. That major issue aside, the Hawks continue to find themselves in great environments because they’re playing at a league-best 13.3 seconds per offensive possession. On the other side, the Knicks are going slow at 15.5 seconds for slowest in the league. There’s no doubt that the Knicks will try to slow this game down, and the Knicks have been great at keeping teams from running on them with the third-highest halfcourt frequency in the league. Their halfcourt D has been just OK, but taking away the rebounding along with the pace are the main reasons why they’re a top-five D overall. Atlanta’s defense has been fine overall on the year, but they continue to be a pretty big rim funnel like they were last year. The Knicks should be able to generate some interior scoring in this spot.

*Jalen Brunson still isn’t rolling yet at just a 34.2 FG% on his drives, but the jump-shooting part of his game has been there with excellent production on spot-ups and in transition. The problem is he’s such a PNR-heavy guy that the misses on drives are pulling him down. The matchup isn’t great either with the Hawks allowing the second-fewest points to PNR handlers. He’ll certainly run into Dejounte Murray, who has been defending at a much higher level this season compared to last year. While Brunson did go for 31 in the first matchup, it’s still a tough spot.

*Julius Randle will run into some Bey, Johnson, and Hunter in this spot, but the matchup is decent with the way the Hawks can give it up inside. The problem for Randle is he still just can’t make layups, and he hasn’t gotten much better recently besides the Hornets game. No R.J. Barrett would add to his ceiling, but it’s still just an OK spot.

*If Barrett can’t go, we’d likely get a heavy dose of Josh Hart again. He just played 43 minutes and almost played the entire first half on Monday. The matchup would be decent, and the Hawks playing so fast suits his skill set, as well.

*Mitchell Robinson would be in an OK spot against bad ATL rim defense. He logged a season-high 38 minutes against the Hawks, and Thibs probably likes him for all the rim running their bigs will do. I kind of like Mitch.

*On the ATL side, the Trae Young piece is everything here. We’ll probably have this on the Injury Show, so we’ll just cover that later. Obviously Dejounte Murray would be in a huge spot, and he will get a chance to build on his 32/5/10 line in Detroit last night. Even if Trae plays, he’s in a great spot and has been productive against the Knicks lately.

*It would be a bad matchup for Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu regardless, while Saddiq Bey and De’Andre Hunter would benefit. Plus, Bogdan Bogdanovic as a starter would be an even better play today against a 3-point funnel.

Great matchups: Mitchell Robinson, Dejounte Murray

Good matchups: De’Andre Hunter, Trae Young (if he goes)

Bad matchups: Clint Capela

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Boston Celtics at Philadelphia 76ers (back end)