Dallas entered Thursday night in a three-way tie with Houston and Denver at the bottom of the Western Conference playoff field, and with a key road win at Golden State, now has a half-game advantage over the Nuggets and Rockets and are in striking distance of 5th seed Memphis.
Both teams will get a stretch of teams largely outside of the playoff pictures - Dallas takes a road trip to Portland, the Lakers and Utah, while Memphis will next play the Jazz and Hornets.
For more on the Dallas Mavericks, check out Mavs Moneyball and SB Nation's NBA page.