Dallas Mavs Can Clinch NBA Playoffs Spot on Tuesday with This Scenario

Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks have a chance to clinch a top-six seed in the Western Conference playoff standings on Tuesday night, but they'll need some outside help to do it.

Dalton Trigg | Apr 9, 2024

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

In this story:

The Dallas Mavericks take on the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday night with a chance to officially secure a top-six seed in the Western Conference standings. Every since early February, when the Mavs were 26-23, the goal has been to climb up the West standings and avoid the Play-In Tournament, and Dallas, now 48-30, is close to doing that.

On Tuesday, the Mavs can clinch a playoff spot by defeating the Hornets and having either the New Orleans Pelicans or Phoenix Suns lose. The Pelicans take on the Portland Trail Blazers on the road, and the Suns take on the Los Angeles Clippers at home.

Nov 25, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) shoots against / Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

With a Mavs win and a Pelicans loss, Dallas would also clinch their fifth Southwest Division title in franchise history. Ironically enough, the last four times Dallas won its division title, it lost in the first round of the playoffs. With Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving playing at MVP levels, and the roster having ample depth and talent spearheaded by Daniel Gafford, P.J. Washington and others, the Mavs should be able to buck that trend this time around.

Unless something crazy happens in these last four games, the Mavs will likely begin the playoffs against the Los Angeles Clippers on the road. It would be fitting for Irving to play his first Mavs playoff game in the same arena he played his first Mavs regular-season game last year. Kawhi Leonard's health will be a big storyline to keep an eye on, as the star forward has missed the Clippers' last four games with "knee inflammation."

Published Apr 9, 2024

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.