- (Sports Network) - The San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks both find themselves in unfamiliar positions as they get ready to renew their rivalry at the AT&T Center tonight. The Spurs-Mavs rivalry has been hotly contested for years, including a thrilling seven-game playoff series in 2006 that saw the Dallas come out on top en route to an NBA finals appearance.

The next season, the Mavs recorded a franchise record 67 wins but were stunned in the first round of the playoffs by the Golden State Warriors, leaving the door open for the Spurs, who eventually went on to win the NBA title.

This season, both teams are struggling mightily.

The Spurs fell to 0-2 last Friday when Brandon Roy scored 26 points on 10- of-18 shooting to help the Portland Trail Blazers hold off San Antonio for a thrilling 100-99 triumph at the Rose Garden.

It was the first time in 13 matchups that Gregg Popovich's team lost to Portland.

Tim Duncan scored a game-high 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Tony Parker had 24 points and handed out 11 assists for the Spurs.

San Antonio has played its first two encounters without two key contributors, swingman Manu Ginobili and center Fabricio Oberto.

Ginobili is not expected to return until late December after offseason ankle surgery but Oberto, who is suffering from an irregular heartbeat, may make his season debut against Dallas and is listed as questionable.

Like its rivals, Dallas has also had trouble in the early going falling to 1-2 Monday when LeBron James poured in 29 points and pulled down eight rebounds as Cleveland shut down Dirk Nowitzki and pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 100-81 win over the Mavs.

Josh Howard had 18 points to lead Dallas, which got just eight points from Nowitzki on 3-of-11 shooting.

Antoine Wright and Gerald Green each had 10 points for the Mavericks, who were coming off a 10-point win at Minnesota on Saturday.

Mavs guard Jerry Stackhouse sat out the game with a foot problem and remains questionable.

The Spurs had lost four straight regular season games to Dallas before righting the ship and winning the final three games of the series last season.





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