Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving Help Mavs Climb in NBA Power Rankings; Playoffs Home-Court Feasible?

With Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving's Dallas Mavericks on a hot streak and having a favorable closing schedule to the regular season, there's a chance they could challenge for home-court advantage before the dust settles.

The Dallas Mavericks continue to gain respect after winning seven of their last eight games while playing inspired defense. With just 12 games remaining in the regular sesaon, the Mavs currently occupy the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference standings, but they control their own destiny for the No. 6 seed. Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and company just have to keep winning, and everything else will take care of itself.

On Monday, NBA.com released its latest Power Rankings, and the Mavs moved up from No. 8 to No. 7 after putting together yet another solid week of basketball. Dallas also ranks as the fifth-best team in the West in these rankings.

Kyrie Irving, Luka Doncic

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"The Mavs rank third defensively (107.7 points allowed per 100 possessions) over this 7-1 stretch, though they’re still a couple of good defensive games from climbing out of the bottom 10 on that end of the floor for the season. The eight games have been pretty balanced regarding the strength of the opposing offenses," John Schuhmann wrote.

"Better defense can lead to more transition opportunities, and the Mavs had two great transition sequences in their win over the Jazz on Thursday, one resulting in a lob for Derrick Jones Jr. and the other finishing with a lob for Kyrie Irving, the guy who’s given their transition game a big boost. The Mavs have seen the league’s second-biggest jump in both pace and transition points per game, and they’ve averaged 16.4 fast break points per 48 minutes with Irving on the floor, compared to just 14.8 per 48 with him off the floor."

The Mavs are currently tied in the loss column with both the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns. The Mavs own the regular-season tiebreaker over the Suns, and although they're currently losing the tiebreaker 2-0 to the Kings, they have a chance to even the score while also taking a two-game lead over Sacramento in the West standings with two head-to-heads this week. If they play their cards right, the Mavs could potentially end up with home-court advantage in the West, as they're just three games back of the Los Angeles Clippers, who are playing .500 basketball over their last 10 games. It's a long shot for sure, but if that happens, Doncic might be a lock for his first MVP award.

Dallas has been playing well despite its 3-point shooting not being where it needs to be, so the hope is that shots start falling from deep at a higher rate during this crucial five-game road trip that begins in Salt Lake City against the Utah Jazz on Monday night. With two important games against the Kings following this one, the Mavs will have to be careful not to overlook Lauri Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson and the rest of the scrappy Jazz roster.