Two skidding teams coming off losses will meet Saturday night when the Dallas Mavericks visit the Los Angeles Clippers in Inglewood, Calif.
The Mavericks welcomed back Anthony Davis from a 14-game injury absence on Friday, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a 129-119 road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Davis had 12 points, five rebounds, five assists and three blocks in a return to the arena where he shared the spotlight with LeBron James as teammates for 5 1/2 seasons. James had 13 points for the Lakers.
The Mavericks didn’t have to change hotels, with less than 15 miles separating the Lakers’ Crypto.com Arena and the Clippers’ Intuit Dome, where the home team likewise was suffering a setback Friday night, 112-107 to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Davis put in 28 minutes in his comeback from a strained calf, and the Mavericks have said he will not play the second night of a back-to-back.
That leaves rookie standout Cooper Flagg as the marquee attraction as the Mavericks attempt to end a three-game losing streak and avenge a 133-127 double-overtime loss to the Clippers two weeks ago.
Flagg, the No. 1 pick in the June draft, had 16 points in the earlier meeting. He has scored in double figures in all but one of his 20 games this season, including putting up 13 to go with a season-high 11 assists in his LA premiere against the Lakers.
Instead of getting caught up in his first head-to-head with James and Luka Doncic, Flagg insisted he had other things to worry about.
Struggling through a thumb injury, the 18-year-old has shot just 26.4% on 3-pointers this season. He went 1-for-3 against the Lakers.
“I know I can knock down shots,” he said on the eve of the trip to Los Angeles. “I’m confident it’ll come and I’ll start hitting shots. All I can do is keep taking them.”
The veteran-laden Clippers, who have lost three games in a row, figure to have back-to-back issues on Saturday as well.
Since his return from a 10-game absence due to an ankle injury, Kawhi Leonard has played three times over a six-day span that included going 29 minutes and pouring in 39 points in Friday’s loss to Memphis.
Leonard has a history of not playing both ends of a back-to-back.
The earlier win in Dallas was one of just two the five-win Clippers have registered this season without Leonard in the lineup. Coach Tyronn Lue stated the obvious if his club has to go without its top player in the rematch.
“I know a lot of people say: ‘Next man up,'” Lue noted to the media, “but if (your best player) is making $60 million and your next man is making $400,000, it’s not really the same.”
Among the Clippers potentially in need of a rest after the loss on Friday is James Harden, who went 40 minutes on a sore foot against the Grizzlies, contributing 23 points and 11 assists.
Harden has played on the second night of all three previous Clippers back-to-backs this season.
