Mavs-Cavs preview

Game #1: Dallas Mavericks (0-0) at Cleveland Cavaliers (0-0)
Quicken Loans Arena • 7 pm (CT)
TXA-21/ESPN • ESPN 103.3 FM • KFLC 1270 AM (Spanish)

PROBABLE STARTERS
DALLAS
F Dirk Nowitzki (7-0, 245)
F Jerry Stackhouse (6-6, 218)
C Gana Diop (7-0, 280)
G Eddie Jones (6-6, 200)
G Devin Harris (6-3, 185)

CLEVELAND
F LeBron James (6-8, 250)
F Drew Gooden (6-10, 250)
C Zydrunas Ilgauskas (7-3, 260)
G Larry Hughes (6-5, 185)
G Daniel Gibson (6-2, 194)

Injury report
Dallas: Erick Dampier (right shoulder surgery), Devean George (left foot stress reaction) and Josh Howard (suspension) are out. Cleveland: Eric Snow (knee) is out.

All-time series: Cavaliers lead 29-23
Next Mavs game: Friday, Nov. 2, at Atlanta, 6:30 pm (FSNSW)

Connections: Gana Diop was a lottery pick by the Cavaliers and played in Cleveland from 2001-05 … Moe Ager and Cavs guard Shannon Brown were teammates at Michigan State … Cavs guard Damon Jones played for Dallas during the 1999-2000 season … Trenton Hassell and Cavs forward Donyell Marshall were teammates in Chicago (2002-03) … Marshall played with Erick Dampier in Golden State (1998-2000).

Scouting the Cavs: Still without contract holdouts Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic, who were both key the last season’s run to the NBA Finals ... James has averaged 31.5 points in eight career games against Dallas … Ilgauskas will become the first player in team history to start at least eight straight opening nights.

Notable: The Mavs are 16-11 all-time in season openers .. The Mavs have won 11 of the last 13 against Cleveland … Nowitzki (23.5) and Jason Terry (20.5) averaged at least 20 points against Cleveland last season.