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Dallas and Toronto should prove to be a high-scoring affair

The Mavs' home opener will feature an unbeaten team in what could be a shoot-out.

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

What did the Raptors do over the summer?

Like Dallas, there were a lot of moving parts in Toronto. Their biggest move was inking swingman DeMarre Carroll to a deal and a role similar to the one the Mavs will ask of Wes Matthews. Out goes glue-guy Amir Johnson, and in comes a pair of talented but very different bigs in Luis Scola and Bismack Biyombo. In the backcourt, Mavs fans may have noticed Lou Williams now wears the purple and gold of the Lakers, and the Raptors also traded Greivis Vasquez to Milwaukee.  Filling out the end of their bench are new additions in first round selection (and a favorite college prospect of mine) Delon Wright, and a pair of Canadian born players in Corey Joseph and former number one overall pick Anthony Bennett.

What will be the game's best matchup?

There are actually a lot of really good matchups here, and I think in general these two teams have more in common than just the Dwane Casey-Rick Carlisle coaching connection. DeRozan-Matthews will be a battle for sure, and so will Valanciunas-Pachulia down low, but I'm going with the point matchup of (hopefully healthy) Deron Williams vs. a slimmed-down Kyle Lowry. In two games Deron Williams has looked very comfortable and in control of the offense, getting good looks in limited minutes. On the other side, Kyle Lowry is of course the Raptors' engine.

What does Dallas need to do to win the game?

Even though the team's leading scorer (DeMar DeRozan) gets most of his points at the line, I'm worried most about the Raptors 3-point shooting, especially in the second unit, where Terrence Ross and Patrick Patterson come into the game and shoot close to ten bombs per night combined. It's way too early to put this in the book, but Toronto is currently second in the NBA in 3-point percentage. Sunday night, the Lakers missed a bunch of relatively open threes (y'know, because they're the Lakers) that I don't think the Mavs will want to allow to a team like the one they face Tuesday. Better rotations would be nice, and getting some hands up (another problem from the Laker game) would be even better.

How to watch

Tip-off starts at 7:30 CT/8:30 ET on Fox Sports Southwest.  If you live out of state (like me), you'll need a League Pass account.