There are a handful of wildcard teams emerging from this Sunday slate. The Charlotte Hornets are suddenly dangerous, the Bulls have played themselves back into the playoff picture, and the Mavericks have won four straight out of nowhere.<\/p>\n
The Lakers have come back to the pack in a big way, winning just three of their last nine games.<\/p>\n
As for the Mavericks, Anthony Davis remains sidelined for an extended period, with Jason Kidd still experimenting with his starting lineups. Does Flagg run point, slide to shooting guard, or even operate at power forward?<\/p>\n
Either way, Dallas has found something since Davis went down, winning four straight games led by the likes of Flagg and Naji Marshall.<\/p>\n
LeBron is averaging close to 26 points per game across the 16 contests he\u2019s played this season without Austin Reaves.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s scored 20+ points in 14 of those 16 games. While he managed just 13 against Dallas last time out, that came in one of his first games back from injury earlier in the season.<\/p>\n
LeBron\u2019s rebounding numbers have also been strong.<\/p>\n
In January, he\u2019s averaging 7.5 rebounds across 11 games and has cleared 6+ boards in eight of those outings.<\/p>\n
With the Mavericks conceding rebounds to power forwards at a rate 12% above league average over the past month, he should see plenty of opportunities on the glass.<\/p>\n
Naji Marshall has been outstanding since Anthony Davis went down and has consistently stepped up in his expanded role.<\/p>\n
Across the seven games since Davis\u2019 injury, Marshall is averaging 26.4 points and assists combined \u2014 well clear of this 20.5 line.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s covered this number in six straight games and with the Lakers far from elite defensively, another strong outing shapes as likely.<\/p>\n
SGM<\/strong><\/p>\n