The Dallas Mavericks will meet the Denver Nuggets tonight in an NBA game that will be FREE live streaming online from the Pepsi CEnter in Denver at 8:00 PM ET.

Dallas hasn't beaten any of its likely first-round opponents in more than two months -- and that's assuming the Mavericks get in after a 12-year streak of reaching the playoffs ended last season.

At the moment, Dallas (36-25) is one of four teams in a tight battle for the final three playoff spots in the Western Conference.

And yes, Nowitzki says, the Mavericks need to beat Portland on Friday. Or Oklahoma City when they play twice in a span of nine days. Or the Clippers in a pair of games a week apart.

"Not necessarily just for confidence but also because we want to stay in the playoff hunt," Nowitzki said. "If we keep losing against the good teams, most of our games left are against teams with winning records. We've got to keep winning at a high clip if we want to make it and so the pressure's on. You gotta love it."

A 112-106 loss to the Spurs on Sunday dropped Dallas to 0-6 against the top five teams in the West since a victory against Houston on Dec. 23.

Since then, the Mavericks have blown big leads at home against the Rockets and Clippers. They've fallen 38 points behind the Trail Blazers, also at home. They haven't been able to get a substantial lead against the Spurs.

All of which means nothing to coach Rick Carlisle because all he sees is Wednesday night's game at Denver, which has been in free fall because of injuries but finally has point guard Ty Lawson back.

The Nuggets (25-34) have tumbled 10 games back in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West with 23 contests remaining. Denver hasn't missed the playoffs since 2003.

To Carlisle, that means help for Nowitzki, who is the closest he's been to championship form since Dallas beat Miami for the title in 2011.

The game will be live streaming online FREE at

nbalivestreamfree.net/‎