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The Dallas Mavericks are second in the Western Conference with a 26-13 record and have the second-best road record (13-6) in the NBA, so this is unquestionably a tough challenge for the Raptors. It's hard to pinpoint one particular thing to focus on with the Mavericks because they're pretty good at everything. They're well-coached, they have a savvy veteran point guard in Jason Kidd, a deadly scorer in Dirk Nowitzki, solid interior defence with Erick Dampier, athletic perimeter defence with Josh Howard and Shawn Marion and scoring punch off the bench with Jason Terry and J.J. Barea. All of those factors were put to good use in the Mavs' 129-101 win over the Raptors in November.
Start time: 12:30pm ET
Channel: CBC
Liveblog: theScore.com with James Borbath
Probable starting lineups
Toronto: Jarrett Jack, DeMar DeRozan, Hedo Turkoglu, Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani
Dallas: Jason Kidd, Josh Howard, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki, Erick Dampier
Five questions
1. Can the Raptors break their "Mavericks curse"? They've lost three straight and 11 of their last 12 against Dallas.
2. Could the key to a Raptors upset be holding the Mavs under 100 points? The Raptors are 13-0 this season when they accomplish that this season, and the Mavericks have only scored over 100 once in their last eight games.
3. Has Andrea Bargnani finally "turned the corner" with his rebounding? He's grabbed 29 boards over his last two games.
4. Can the Raptors do a decent job contesting Dallas shots, unlike their first meeting when the Mavs shot at a 62 percent success rate?
5. Does the name "Rodrigue Beaubois" remind you of a basketball player or a luger?
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