Portland Trail Blazers vs Dallas Mavericks: How to Watch, Odds and Game Preview (March 27)

The Portland Trail Blazers will host the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night at Moda Center with an opportunity to maintain momentum. Portland enters this matchup at 37-37 and continues to gain steam in the Western Conference standings, while Dallas comes in at 23-50 and has lost five straight games and eight of its last 10. With the Blazers trying to push further up the West and the Mavericks focused more on draft positioning, this sets up as a favorable opportunity for Portland to get above .500.

This is another game the Trail Blazers should win. Portland has been playing good basketball of late and now has a real chance to get above the .500 mark, which would be a meaningful step for a team that has been pushing toward that threshold for a while. The Mavericks, meanwhile, have not been competitive recently, with five straight losses and eight defeats in their last 10 games, and they are clearly in a very different place organizationally than Portland is at this point in the season.

That contrast makes this matchup feel pretty lopsided on paper. The Blazers are trying to build momentum and improve their postseason standing, while Dallas has more incentive to improve its draft position than to string together meaningless late-season wins. In a spot like this, especially at home, Portland should be able to take control if it plays with the right urgency. This is the type of game the Blazers need to capitalize on if they want this recent stretch of solid play to translate into real movement in the standings.

Following this contest, the Trail Blazers will remain at home to take on the Washington Wizards on Sunday. That will be another favorable matchup and another game Portland should be able to win as it continues trying to build momentum down the stretch.