Pelicans @ Mavericks

Who will WIN this matchup?

New Orleans Pelicans (15-19)

@ Dallas Mavericks (15-17)

Current odds:

New Orleans Pelicans: (+110)

Dallas Mavericks: (-130)

• The line for this game is Dallas by 2.5 points.

• The Dallas Mavericks are suffering through the NBA’s longest current losing streak at six straight while struggling on the road and on the defensive end. The Mavericks are a much better team at home and will try to snap the slide when they host the opener of a home-and-home set against the similarly struggling New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday. Dallas dropped to 2-14 on the road with a 121-118 overtime loss at Portland on Sunday, capping an 0-4 road trip through some of the top teams in the Western Conference, but is trying not to be discouraged.

• The Pelicans are in the midst of their own tough road trip and fell at Milwaukee, the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings in the first three stops of a four-game trip. “We play good basketball and then when we need to execute and come up with big defensive plays, we don’t,” New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry told reporters. “This three-game road trip has been very similar. All the games have been very similar, where we have played and we have been right there and we have not been able to close, defend or come up with baskets.”

• Star forward Anthony Davis continued his stellar stretch with 26 points, 17 rebounds and four blocks on Sunday but New Orleans still dropped a 122-117 decision to the Kings after being outscored 36-21 in the fourth quarter. “We played well over stretches and then we go away from what we are doing,” Gentry told reporters. “We stop moving the basketball, we try to do it ourselves and we are not capable of doing that. We are capable of being a very good basketball team when we move the basketball and we do what we did the first half and even the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, we did not make the plays that are necessary to win games on the road in the NBA.” The Pelicans went 6-of-26 from 3-point range against Sacramento and are shooting 34.7 percent from beyond the arc on the trip.

• Dallas fell by an average of 4.8 points on the road against Denver, the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State and the Trail Blazers and is aware that the margin of error is slim against the other teams in the West. “Getting into overtime was great, and then we got a bit of a sluggish start, which got us up against it a little bit, and then it was tough,” Carlisle told reporters after Sunday’s setback. “It’s a case of the Western Conference being almost an invisible margin for errors. We’ll just keep banging away.” The Mavericks continue to get strong performances from rookie forward Luka Doncic, who collected 23 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in Sunday’s loss.

• Mavericks C DeAndre Jordan recorded a double-double in each of the last four games.

• Pelicans PF Nikola Mirotic (ankle) sat out the last five games and remains day-to-day.

• New Orleans earned a 132-106 home win over Dallas on Dec. 5 as Davis and Julius Randle scored 27 points apiece.