The Dallas Mavericks (0-1) stay on the road to start the season, matching up against the Indiana Pacers (1-0) on Friday night. The Mavericks are looking for a win after getting throttled by the Houston Rockets on Wednesday. Indiana held off the New Orleans Pelicans to start the season, winning 123-120 in Tyrese Haliburton’s return to the court after missing the entire 2025-26 season due to injury. Here’s the main things to know:
- WHO: Dallas Mavericks at Indiana Pacers
- WHAT: Staying on the road for the second game of the season
- WHERE: Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
- WHEN: 6:00 pm CST
- HOW: KFAA
The injury report remains the same for Dallas: Dereck Lively and Santi Aldama are out, same as they have been since the start of training camp. Tarik Biberovic is missing the game with heel bursitis. Caleb Martin is missing the game with a thumb sprain. Jett Howard is doubtful with a right calf issue.
The Pacers are without TJ McConnell, due to a hamstring injury. Aaron Nesmith and Ben Sheppard are questionable as of this writing.
This will be the home debut for the Pacers and Haliburton’s first game since going down with the Achilles tear in game seven of the 2024 NBA Finals. Dallas will battle both the emotions in that building as well as a very solid Pacers team. The Mavericks must play better transition defense or the Pacers may quickly put this one away. Dallas, particularly their big men, need to rebound the ball better than they did against the Rockets.
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- Injury report news
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Consider joining me on Pod Maverick live after the game on YouTube; I will be going live tonight after the game and it’s the show where I need y’all to join and participate!
