{"id":504397,"date":"2025-12-30T02:16:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T02:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/504397\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T02:16:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T02:16:24","slug":"brandon-williams-poised-to-return-as-dallas-mavericks-look-for-reset-in-portland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/504397\/","title":{"rendered":"Brandon Williams Poised To Return As Dallas Mavericks Look For Reset In Portland"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Mavericks arrive in the Pacific Northwest looking for steadier footing, and they could regain a key piece of their rotation Monday night as guard Brandon Williams<\/a> trends toward a return against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Moda Center.<\/p>\n

Williams missed Saturday\u2019s loss to Sacramento with a left calf contusion despite completing a pregame workout. After going through shootaround Monday, his status improved, placing him in position to be available as Dallas continues to navigate a demanding stretch of games and travel.<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019 potential availability would provide a timely boost for a Mavericks team managing multiple absences across the rotation. His progression through shootaround marked a notable step after Dallas opted for caution over the weekend.<\/p>\n

The timing matters. Williams is coming off one of his most productive outings of the season, scoring 26 points Thursday against the Golden State Warriors while adding three rebounds and three assists. With Dallas short-handed, he provided downhill pressure and shot creation during a stretch when the Mavericks have struggled to generate consistent offense.<\/p>\n

Anthony Davis Continues to Work Through Adductor Soreness<\/p>\n

While Williams\u2019 outlook has improved, Anthony Davis<\/a> remains a central question mark. Davis continues to manage right adductor soreness and sat out Saturday\u2019s loss at Sacramento. He completed a workout after shootaround Monday but remains questionable for the matchup in Portland.<\/p>\n

Davis has played in just 16 of the Mavericks\u2019 33 games this season, and his availability has shaped nightly adjustments. Without him, Dallas has emphasized pace, ball movement and rebounding to stay competitive.<\/p>\n

\u201cMissing a guy of that magnitude is tough,\u201d P.J. Washington<\/a> said. \u201cHe\u2019s so dominant on both ends of the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dallas remains without Kyrie Irving<\/a>, who is out following left knee surgery, along with Dant\u00e9 Exum (right knee surgery) and Dereck Lively II<\/a> (right foot surgery). Moussa Ciss\u00e9 is questionable while on G League assignment, and Miles Kelly<\/a> is doubtful.<\/p>\n

Those absences have forced Dallas to shuffle lineups and roles nightly, leaning on versatility as the schedule offers little relief.<\/p>\n

Cooper Flagg Navigates the NBA Grind<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s game marks Dallas\u2019 34th contest of the season. At this point last year, Cooper Flagg<\/a> had just completed the ACC tournament and was preparing for the NCAA Tournament with Duke.<\/p>\n

Now 19, Flagg has already played in 32 of the Mavericks\u2019 33 games. He is averaging 19.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists and has elevated his production in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a little tired, for sure,\u201d Flagg said after Saturday\u2019s game. \u201cYou go through it and try to figure out what works for me. But at 32 games, that\u2019s pretty much as many games as I played the whole season last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s different, for sure. It\u2019s a lot more mentally tiring, physically as well. But I\u2019d say the mental part is the biggest change. I\u2019m just trying to figure it out day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the fatigue, Flagg finished with 23 points, six rebounds and five assists against Sacramento, even as turnovers proved costly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s different,\u201d Flagg said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have as much time in between, you don\u2019t get a break for holidays. It\u2019s just different. You got to learn how to deal with it pretty quickly and figure it out on the go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mavericks Searching for Consistency on the Road<\/p>\n

Dallas enters Monday having lost four of its last five games, with the lone win coming at home against Denver on Dec. 23. Each of the four losses during that stretch has been by 10 points or fewer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the road trip has been tough,\u201d Washington said. \u201cObviously, we\u2019re professionals. There\u2019s no excuses. We have to be better. We can\u2019t just blame it on that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the biggest thing for us was turnovers. If we clean up a little bit of that, it\u2019s a different outcome. Being able to rebound and not making silly turnovers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dallas committed 21 turnovers against the Kings, with Flagg accounting for five.<\/p>\n

Familiar Matchup Against Portland Trail Blazers<\/p>\n

The schedule offers Dallas a familiar opponent. The Mavericks will seek to defeat Portland for the 15th time in the past 18 meetings when the teams meet for the second time this season.<\/p>\n

Dallas earned a 138-133 overtime victory against the Trail Blazers on Nov. 16, when seven Mavericks scored in double figures to offset a season-best 36-point performance by Shaedon Sharpe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Portland enters Monday coming off a 114-108 home win over Boston. After committing 17 first-half turnovers, the Trail Blazers had just four in the second half while outscoring the Celtics by 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tricky; it\u2019s hard to tell them, \u2018Don\u2019t turn the ball over,\u2019 because then the reaction, \u2018Well, I\u2019m going to be less aggressive,\u2019\u201d Portland interim coach Tiago Splitter<\/a> said. \u201cIt\u2019s a balance or, OK, try not to get those dumb ones where the guy is right there and you pass it over there or you see a hand in the passing lane and you throwing it or trying a difficult one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharpe scored 26 points on 5-of-8 shooting from three, while Deni Avdija<\/a> added 24 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. Toumani Camara<\/a> contributed 20 points, and Donovan Clingan<\/a> delivered 18 points and 18 rebounds.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Clingan) protecting the rim, his rebounding was huge,\u201d Splitter said. \u201cBut as a group, the energy was there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Portland forward Jerami Grant<\/a> is expected to miss his sixth straight game with an Achilles injury.<\/p>\n

Latest Dallas Mavericks News & NBA Rumors<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Mavericks arrive in the Pacific Northwest looking for steadier footing, and they could regain a key…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[495,7,601,10823,225,149,6,9513,3101,687,471,3967,1617],"class_list":{"0":"post-504397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-portland-trail-blazers","8":"tag-anthony-davis","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-blazers","11":"tag-brandon-williams","12":"tag-cooper-flagg","13":"tag-dallas-mavericks","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-nba-injury-news","16":"tag-nba-news","17":"tag-portland","18":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","19":"tag-portlandtrailblazers","20":"tag-trail-blazers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115806115181652018","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}