Game 57: Mavs vs Bucks

The loss last night puts the Mavericks in sole possession of fourth place in their division and five and a half games back of the Spurs. Dallas is currently seeded eighth place in the Western Conference with a record of 33-23. Phoenix is ninth and a game behind the Mavs. Milwaukee has a 28-31 record and sits eighth in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls are a game behind the Bucks and the Nets are two games behind them. It looks to be an interesting race to the playoffs. Whoever gets hot now, they will be the team to have momentum going into the post-season.

Mavericks Stats 08-09

Name	Dirk Nowitzki	Josh Howard	Jason Kidd	Brandon Bass
Points Per Game	25.1	18.2	8.9	8.5
Rebounds Per Game	8.3	5.1	6.2	4.4
Assists Per Game	2.3	1.7	8.4	0.5
Blocks Per Game	0.8	0.5	0.6	0.7

Dirk has continues to drop on his ppg. This game is the second game in back-to-back games. They got killed by the Duncanless and Ginobililess Spurs by a margin of 93-76. They just couldn't get anything going. In the second half, they closed the margin to three before losing heart.

Bucks Stats 08-09

Name	Richard Jefferson	Charlie Villanueva	Ramon Sessions	Luke Didnour
Points Per Game	18.2	16.2	12.1	10.6
Rebounds Per Game	4.8	6.7	3.1	3.4
Assists Per Game	2.4	1.9	4.8	5.7
Blocks Per Game	0.1	0.7	0.1	0.3

These guys are without Michael Redd, who is out for the season, and Andrew Bogut, who is out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his lower back. He's been gone since February 4th with the injury.

Forecast: I like the Mavericks in this one. Sure, they are tired from playing last night, but they are playing at home and they have the better team. It may be a close one, due to fatigue, but I do not think it will play as big a factor in this game as it normally would... Mavs win it with a score of 97-89.

Home Court