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The Dallas Mavericks (21-37) will play for the second consecutive night with a game Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies (21-36) that tips at 7:30 p.m. at American Airlines Center. Dallas snapped a two-game winning streak in losing 130-121 to the Kings Thursday. Naji Marshall scored 36 in the effort and the team was once again without Cooper Flagg, who missed his fourth straight game with a foot injury. As of this writing Flagg’s availability for Friday has not been announced.
Led in scoring by veteran swingman Ty Jerome, the Grizzlies enter this game on a three-game skid and having dropped seven of their last eight; they beat the Mavericks in each of these teams’ first two meetings, winning 118-104 at home Nov. 7 and in Dallas Nov. 22, 102-96. Since then both clubs have undergone major changes at the trade deadline. Although the bar for “surprising trade” is pretty high around these parts, the Grizzlies’ Feb. 3 deal with Utah sending Jaren Jackson Jr. and others away in a change for guard Walter Clayton Jr., forward Taylor Hendricks, guard Kyle Anderson, and three first round draft picks represented an abrupt change in direction for Memphis.
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The post-trade Grizzlies, already without Jackson’s fellow building blocks Ja Morant (elbow) and Zach Edey (ankle) for much of this season, are giving their entire remaining roster a long look to see who to keep around for a likely rebuild, with wing Rayan Rupert, who arrived last week in a trade with Portland, the only Grizzly not to have yet started a game. For this approach, they have the right coach in Tuomas Iisalo, whose coaching style involves frequent substitutions and high demands on reserves. Since returning from the All-Star break, the only Memphis player to appear in a game and play fewer than 20 minutes has been Anderson, who left Feb. 20 against Utah with a knee injury after playing 18.
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While it will take years to fully determine whether the Jazz or Grizzlies won the Feb. 3 trade, one of the deal’s clear early winners has been GG Jackson, a starter at power forward in eight of the nine games since. The third-year player has…
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Publish date : 2026-02-27 06:00:00
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