January has been unkind to the Dallas Mavericks (25-24), who lost three of the four games in their recent homestand, and are 4-8 this month. Thursday night they pay visit to the Phoenix Suns (25-24), winners of their last four and tied with the Mavericks in the Western Conference.
While the Mavericks have faced extended absence from a collection of key role players over the last month, the Suns have had to battle injury absence from their stars Devin Booker (out, missed 17 of last 20 games) and Chris Paul (recently returned, missed 21 of 49 games).