INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- The Dallas Mavericks look a lot different now than they did when the Cleveland Cavaliers hosted them at Quicken Loans Arena on January 4, but the addition of point guard Rajon Rondo in a trade with the Boston Celtics has had limited results for the Mavericks.
After a six-game winning streak immediately following the acquisition of Rondo, the Mavericks have not won more than three straight games since.
"Nothing is guaranteed," Cavaliers forward LeBron James said. "You've got to go out and play. Obviously, what they've done is none of my concern. I'm only worried about what we've been able to accomplish and what we need to do to continue to get better.
"It's a team that's very, very good, has one of the best coaches in our league (Rick Carlisle), has one of the greatest players our league has seen in Dirk (Nowitzki) and have guys around him that complement him so well, guys like Monta (Ellis), Tyson Chandler. They do a good job. They're a very good team."
The Mavericks are not the only team that looks different than it did in that first meeting in January, which they won over the Cavaliers, 109-90.
Shortly after encountering the setback, the Cavaliers made two trades that brought them shooting guards J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert from the New York Knicks and center Timofey Mozgov from the Denver Nuggets.
Since the trades, the Cavaliers have gone from 19-15 to 40-25, which currently has them at the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
"I can say in our case, the trades really helped up," Cavaliers coach David Blatt said. "When we were having problems was before we got the guys. Pretty much from the moment those guys walked in the gym, we immediately got a lot better, and a lot deeper, and a lot more in balance in terms of the roster."
The Cavaliers enter Tuesday's game looking for a win that would not only keep them on track for a top-two seed in the East, but also, break a losing streak in Texas that dates back to their 97-86 win over San Antonio on February 27, 2009.
"I've won in Texas plenty of times, and we shouldn't be worried about what's happened in the past," James said. "Worry about the present, and that's it. We've got an opportunity to go down to Texas, have a two-game stint while we're down there, play some very good teams and see where we're at."
Blatt added, "I think after a day off, the guys were enthused to practice and to work on some specifics and some principles, and to get some good, competitive work in practice done, it was a good day for us today, a really good day for us."
