San Antonio Spurs vs Dallas Mavericks live stream: Watch online free 8:30 ET as these two teams meet for these two Texas teams  meet for the first time this season.

The 22-7 San Antonio Spurs travel across the state to Dallas vs the 16-12 Mavericks for the first of four meetings. The Spurs are coming off an upset loss at home to the Houston Rockets on Christmas. Watch the free live stream online to see if the defending Western Conference champions can respond against an improved Dallas team.

Thursday's game is the third in four nights for the Spurs, while the Mavericks are coming off a win on Monday. The win over the Rockets stopped what could have been a three-game losing streak.

"You don't ever want to sit on two days at Christmas with a three-game losing streak, so we definitely wanted to have this one," Dallas star Dirk Nowitzki told the team's official website. "We competed and everybody who was out there played hard."

The game will be live streamed over the FSSW network (Fox Sports Southwest TV Listings) 

You can also watch the action live here

After undergoing knee surgery and missing the first 27 games of 2012-13, the 35-year-old Nowitzki appears to be back to his old self. He is averaging a team-leading 21.5 points, 4.2 more than last season, according to ESPN.com.

"The driving the ball is what's missing a little now," Nowitzki said. "I do a lot of one or two dribble and then up, but I want to get back to driving some more to the basket and get to the foul line. I don't think I'm in '11 shape, but compared to the last two years I feel a lot better. The right knee is great and I feel better."

Tony Parker had a season-low six on 3-of-11 shooting during the Christmas day game a day ago en route to the loss against the Rockets. San Antonio allowed 40 points in the first quarter and never could fully recover.

"We didn't play well," said Parker, whose team is one of only two yet to lose back-to-back games this season. "Move on to the next one, it's the NBA."