Mavericks Vs. Suns: Game Preview, TV Info And More

After an impressive 100-87 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday, the Dallas Mavericks will try to get their season back on track, and win their first road game of the year, Wednesday night against the Phoenix Suns.

The Mavericks got off to one of the slowest starts of an NBA champion in recent memory, dropping their first three games, including two blowout home losses to the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets, before winning two out of their last three to get to 2-4.

The Suns, meanwhile, have struggled out the gate as well with a 2-3 record, although they did not have nearly the expectations of their long-time Western Conference rival.

While Steve Nash is still averaging 8 assists a game at the age of 37, almost none of the players that surrounded him in the epic Dallas-Phoenix playoff series of the mid-00's are still there.

Instead, Phoenix has a much bigger and slower team, playing two legitimate 7'0 at the center position -- Marcin Gortat and Robin Lopez -- as well as two 6'10+ plodders at the power forward position in Channing Frye and Kansas rookie Markieff Morris.

The franchise that made the "Seven Seconds or Less" offense famous now plays at the 24th slowest pace in the NBA, walking the ball up the court and averaging only 91.8 points a game.

Phoenix does not have the type of athletic slashers from the wing who have given Dallas so much trouble this year, and they are the type of team a Mavericks squad that expects to be competitive in the playoffs needs to beat

The 7:30 PM game will be carried on Fox Sports Southwest.

For more on the defending NBA champions, check out Mavs Moneyball, while Bright Side of the Sun has you covered for everything Suns related.