List of Pride Month events in Houston area

Mavericks' Maxi Kleber: Questionable For Friday

Kleber is listed as questionable for Friday's game versus the Warriors due to back spasms.

It's unclear when Kleber suffered his injury, but he is in danger of missing his first contest since Feb. 28 on Friday. If Kleber is ruled out, Dwight Powell, Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington are candidates to receive increased playing time.

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Luka Doncic's MVP Chances Gaining Steam As Mavericks Climb Western Conference Standings

With the Dallas Mavericks peaking during the NBA regular season's final stretch, Luka Doncic's MVP claim has never been stronger.

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks have just seven games remaining on the regular season docket.

Taking the temperature for Dallas shows that the supporting cast is shining in their roles: star guard Kyrie Irving has remained healthy and is having his best season in years, and, of course, their 25-year-old All-Universe performer has continuously elevated his game as the season has progressed. 

Dallas went 11-4 in March, a spectacular month for the Mavericks and especially so once you consider that it began with three straight losses as their trade deadline acquisitions got acclimated to the Kyrie-Luka show. Thanks to those March efforts, Doncic was named the NBA Western Conference Player of the Month for the second consecutive month. 

In the months that Luka has reigned as the West's top player, Dallas has risen from a fringe play-in possibility to a legitimate shot at reaching a top-four seed in the conference. With it, the case for Luka Doncic to be a frontrunner for the league's Most Valuable Player award continues to grow. 

Despite being the league's top scorer, most of the attention for the honor has been shared between the established champion and two-time MVP winner Nikola Jokic and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, with both of those players having teams at the top of the conference. That argument has lost luster as the Mavs have continued to leapfrog over teams with Doncic continuing to put up video game numbers.  

Dallas absolutely walloped Houston to end the month and end their in-state rival's 11-game winning streak with Doncic having his best scoring day of the month as he went off for 47 points in three quarters. While Dallas lost close to Golden State during a brief stop in California to see their own seven-game winning streak snapped, they stayed in the game thanks to multiple double-digit runs from Irving and Doncic in a game where the bench contributed just 13 points and only three Mavericks players scored more than ten points.

Dallas now returns home after a series of California-Texas flights over the last week to host the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday in a game telecast on WFAA. 

The Mavs should get the Hawks at max effort as they are fighting to stay in contention for the final play-in spot in the East, but it is likely that Trae Young will be unavailable as he recovers from injury. Atlanta looks to be on its last legs during the Trae era, and there are rumblings that he could be moved in the offseason. 

What could have been a matchup between the two stars forever linked for their 2018 draft night trade that brought Doncic to Dallas now becomes another night in the Luka revenge tour. 

The Mavericks will follow their contest with Atlanta by welcoming Steph Curry and those Warriors to the AAC on Friday for a rematch before hosting the Rockets to conclude their weekend on Sunday afternoon. 

Dallas seems assured of making the playoffs at this point, and their eventual standing should have some clarity following the weekend. Dallas has surged to 5th in the Western Conference with the regular season concluding on April 14. It's a tight squeeze, with the Pelicans and Suns a half game down and 8th place Sacramento just one game away.  

A continuation of the Luka playoff rivalry with the L.A Clippers would be an opening-round match if the playoffs started today, but a losing streak could see the Mavs end up facing any of the top-tier contenders who are in a log jam of their own at the top. Minnesota, Denver, and Oklahoma City are all within a game of each other for seeds 1-3 entering the regular season's final week. 

What was once a season where the hope was merely to avoid the play-in and earn a guaranteed playoff spot, after a year in which Dallas didn't make the playoffs at all, now sees the Mavericks with a realistic shot at the 4th seed and home-court advantage in the playoffs thanks to the MVP-caliber play of Luka Doncic and a team that is hitting their stride at the right time.

Do you think Luka Doncic deserves to win the MVP award? Share your thoughts with Irvin on Twitter @Twittirv.

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The 2024 Valero Texas Open Odds & Preview: Maverick McNealy

Maverick McNealy will play at the 2024 Valero Texas Open in San Antonio, Texas at the par-72, 7,438-yard TPC San Antonio (Oaks) from April 4-7.

Looking to bet on Maverick McNealy at the Valero Texas Open this week? He's currently listed by bookmakers at +6600 to win the tournament this week. Keep reading for the betting trends you can use before you make your picks.

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Sportsbook Promo Codes Valero Texas Open Time and Date Info

Date: April 4-7, 2024

Course: TPC San Antonio (Oaks)

Location: San Antonio, Texas

Par: 72 / 7,438 yards

McNealy Odds to Win: +6600 (Bet now with BetMGM!)

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Maverick McNealy Insights

McNealy has finished below par on 15 occasions, completed his day bogey-free twice and finished 15 rounds with a better-than-average score over his last 20 rounds played.

He has recorded a top-five score twice and a top-10 score five times in his last 20 rounds.

McNealy has recorded a score within three shots of the day's best in five of his last 20 rounds, while finishing within five strokes of the top score of the day 13 times.

McNealy has posted two top-10 finishes and three top-20 finishes in his past five tournaments.

In his past five events, McNealy has posted a score better than average in three of them.

McNealy will attempt to continue his streak of made cuts to eight by qualifying for the weekend again.

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Over the last year Tournaments AVG Finish AVG Score AVG Strokes Wins Made Cuts Top 5s Top 10s Earnings 16 36 -7 271 0 10 0 2 $1.4M Other Players at the Valero Texas Open Valero Texas Open Insights and Stats

McNealy finished 35th on the leaderboard in his previous appearance at this event, in 2022.

This course is set up to play at 7,438 yards, 450 more than the average course on the Tour in the past year.

Golfers at TPC San Antonio (Oaks) have averaged a score of -2 per tournament, higher than the Tour-wide scoring average of -5 during the past year.

Courses that McNealy has played in the past year have measured an average of 7,269 yards, 169 yards shorter than the 7,438-yard TPC San Antonio (Oaks) this week.

Events he has played in the past year have seen players average a score of -7. That's lower than this course, which has a scoring average of -2.

McNealy's Last Time Out

McNealy was in the 56th percentile on par 3s at the Valspar Championship, with an average of 3.05 strokes on the 20 par-3 holes.

He averaged 4.11 strokes on par-4 holes (of which there were 36) at the Valspar Championship, which placed him in the 41st percentile among all competitors.

On the 16 par-5 holes at the Valspar Championship, McNealy was better than 67% of the competitors (averaging 4.63 strokes).

McNealy carded a birdie or better on three of 20 par-3s at the Valspar Championship, better than the field average of 2.0.

On the 20 par-3s at the Valspar Championship, McNealy carded four bogeys or worse (more than the tournament average of 2.9).

McNealy had more birdies or better (five) than the tournament average of 4.0 on the 36 par-4s at the Valspar Championship.

In that last outing, McNealy's par-4 performance (on 36 holes) included a bogey or worse nine times (worse than the field average, 5.7).

McNealy ended the Valspar Championship outperforming the field's average of birdies or better on par-5s (4.3) with six on the 16 par-5 holes.

The field at the Valspar Championship averaged 1.3 bogeys or worse on the 16 par-5s, but McNealy finished without one.

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