The Brooklyn Nets are hoping to keep up their mid-season turnaround going. The team has posted the league's best record to this point in January having won nine of their last ten games. There is now plenty of optimism regarding the Nets after a disastrous start to the season. The Dallas Mavericks come into the Barclays center looking to end the momentum and get a win on the road.
The Nets won their sixth-straight home game against the Orlando Magic on Tuesday, putting on a 27-14 scoring advantage in the third quarter. That is a big change from the 1-6 record Brooklyn put up at the start of the season. Both Paul Pierce and Joe Johnson hit double-digits in scoring while Andray Blatche led the team of the bench with 18 points. After a strong run by Johnson, it is Blatche making the noise averaging 19.0 points in the past three games. Johnson is putting up 22.9 over his last seven games.
The Nets are starting to set their team identity in defense. Shaun Livingston notes that has been a focus on practice recently and it is showing during games. Brooklyn has held opponents to under 100 points in their last eight of nine games, giving up just 92.2 points in that stretch.
Dallas is coming off a loss to the Raptors after Dirk Nowitzki sat out the game having played for the 11th time in 18 days. Nowitzki is expected to return against the Brooklyn Nets as the team needs to bounce back from two losses in three games. Turnovers have plagued the team on their recent road trip. The Mavericks turned the ball over 21 times against the Raptors, blowing a 21-point first quarter lead.
Dallas and Brooklyn do not play each other often. The team teams split last season's two-game series. Deron Williams has had the most success putting up 27.5 points in both games, but will be expected to come off the bench Friday.
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