Mavericks-Warriors: What to watch for

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The Warriors play the Dallas Mavericks at Oracle Arena onThursday, their second game of a back-to-back. The Warriors, who played atPortland on Wednesday, will be playing their eighth back-to-back set in thepast monththe result of a backloaded lockout schedule.The Warriors are just 1-6 in the second game ofback-to-backs over that time.Here are some things to watch for during Thursdays gamebetween the Mavericks and Warriors:Shot selection: The Dallas Mavericks areamong the best teams in the league when it comes to defensive rebounding. Thatmeans second shots will be very tough for the Warriors to come by.RELATED: NBA Stat leadersMavericks stats
All the more reason that Golden State needs to take goodshots. It would help the Warriors if they could get out in transition and getsome easy layups or wide-open 3-pointers. Its important they dont spend toomuch time in the halfcourt, where it will be more difficult to get qualityshots.McGuire vs. Nowitzki: There is littledoubt that Dominic McGuire is the Warrior player most suited to defend DirkNowitzki. McGuire has the size, quickness and toughness to at least make Nowitzkiwork for the points he gets.The key for the Warriors, in general, and McGuire, inparticular, is to try to make Nowitzki a volume shooter.Tylers emergence: Warriors rookie JeremyTyler has been playing more and more in recent games, and hes been building oneach performance. Tyler has shown an ability to score and rebound a little bit,and hes laying a foundation for next season.RELATED: Jeremy Tyler game logs
The Mavericks start a big center in Brendan Haywood, andhes someone who will have a strength and physicality advantage against Tyler.Still, with Tylers youth and athleticism, hes got a fighting chance.End-game execution: The Warriors led theBlazers on Wednesday by a point with six minutes remaining. But from that pointon, their offense became inconsistent and their defense got worse.If the Warriors hope to win a few of their remaining ninegames, theyre going to have to do a better job of executingon bothends.

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