The Dallas Mavericks travel to The Big Apple to face the Brooklyn Nets at Barclay's Center on Saturday.

The Mavericks (15-16) suffered another tough loss on Thursday, losing to the Philadelphia 76ers, 111-97. Unfortunately, they were never really competitive in that game, and it says a lot about the gap between the two teams. The guy they were missing was Kristaps Porzingis. The big man continues to miss games because of a back issue, and this team simply doesn't have enough depth to compete without him. That one loss is overshadowing a decent stretch from Dallas though, winning six of their previous seven games. That got them back to .500, but that still puts them well below expectations. That has a lot of people talking about them as a trade destination in next month's trade deadline, and one has to believe they need to make another move if they want to be a true contender this season.

The Nets (22-12) were the talk of the NBA when they traded for James Harden a month ago and have been unstoppable since then. In fact, they enter this matchup in the midst of an eight-game winning streak, battering opponents night after night. That was on full display Thursday when they handed the Orlando Magic a 129-92 beatdown. That's the sixth time they've won by at least nine points in that eight-game spurt, doing that damage with Kevin Durant sidelined. The former MVP continues to nurse a hamstring issue, and it's scary to think how good they'll be when he's back and fully healthy. This time allows the others to adjust to Harden's unique game, and it has them looking like the scariest team in the NBA outside of Utah.

These teams haven't played this season but played back on January 2 of 2020, with Dallas prevailing, 123-112. They've now traded off wins in their last four meetings.