Here's How Playoffs-Bound Mavs Can Climb From Seventh in The NBA West
The Dallas Mavericks are three-fourths of a way through an NBA season that has thus far been packed with positive revelations, topped off as we start this week with the fact that at 37-24, the Mavs are currently in seventh place in the NBA Western Conference.
That, of course, means they are essentially playoff-bound. And if we reflect on the last half-decade of Dallas Basketball, that's no small feat.
But what might await them, if they are as good as they've convinced themselves that they are, is a distaste for settling for "good enough.''
What if the seventh-place Mavs climb from that perch?
With 20 games left (starting tonight at Chicago, GAMEDAY here), the Mavs as we begin the final quarter of the 201-20 season are but a half-game back of Oklahoma City for sixth in the West.
They are just one game back of the Utah Jazz for the No. 5 seed.
They are just three games back of the Houston Rockets for the fourth seed.
The No. 1 team in the West is the Los Angeles Lakers with 46 wins. Th Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets are jousting for the No. 2 slot with 41 victories each. Those three teams - or at least certainly the Lakers and the Clippers, with no disrespect to Denver - are worth noting because their presence up top makes the Nos. 7 and 8 seeds rather unappealing, as two teams finishing there will get first-round meetings with the powerhouses from L.A.
So inching up from the No. 7 slot might allow Dallas to avoid that pair in Round 1. Inching up even more might even an even more favorable first-round matchup.
Dallas, as a bottom-half seed, would, of course, be an underdog in a series against a top-four seed. And a series against Houston or Utah would be no picnic.
But there is some level of "destiny control'' for the Mavs in the aspiration to rise from No. 7. Here's why:
Yes, the Mavs are a half-game back of OKC for sixth. But in these final 20 games, they have a game against the Thunder, where a win can mean ground gained.
Yes, the Mavs are a game back of Utah for fifth. But the Mavs play the Jazz one more time, too.
And yes, the Mavs are three games back of the Rockets for fourth. But the Mavs still have two games left against the Rockets.
That's four head-to-heads in the next 20. And all four of these meetings are at the AAC, where we'll need one more "small feat'' to make something special happen, in the regular season and beyond ... for the Mavs are just 16-14 this year at home.
That's not playoff-level results. But so much of what these Mavs have accomplished is, and in revelatory ways. ... Luka "The Fire That Will Test Gold'' Doncic as an MVP candidate. NBA West Player of the Week Kristaps Porzingis as "The Future of The 5.'' Tim Hardaway Jr. and Seth Curry taking turns as Dallas' all-important "third-best player.'' And on and on with coach Rick Carlisle's roster-wide button-pushing allowing this team to already have guaranteed itself a winning road record, with this team in the won/lost category already twice as good as it was two years ago.
One more revelation is what's needed for a maximum playoff shot: Be able to play with the Thunder, the Jazz and the Rockets ... at home.
