Luka Doncic, New-Look Dallas Mavs Destined to Face Los Angeles Clippers in Playoffs?

With just five games remaining in the season, it's looking more and more likely that the Dallas Mavericks will open the postseason as the No. 5 seed taking on the No. 4 seed Los Angeles Clippers in the first round. Can Luka Doncic get his revenge?

After being 26-23 back on Feb. 3, the Dallas Mavericks have surged up the Western Conference standings over the last two months and are now 47-30 with just five games remaining in the regular season.

Coming off a gritty 108-106 win over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night without Luka Doncic suiting up (knee soreness), the Mavs now have a 99.6-percent chance of avoiding the Play-In Tournament and clinching a top-six seed in the West, according to ESPN's playoff projections. Dallas also has an 85-percent chance of securing the No. 5 seed according to those projections, which would mean a third playoff meeting against the Los Angeles Clippers in five years for the Mavs.

Back in the 90s, Micahael Jordan's Chicago Bulls had to overcome their nemesis, the "Bad Boy" Detroit Pistons, who had defeated them several times, in order to finally get over the hump and start their dynasty. Not to jump the gun and say Dallas has a dynasty brewing, but perhaps now is the perfect time for Luka Doncic's Mavs to do something similar against the Clippers.

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After losing the previous two hard-fought series in 2020 and 2021 against the Clippers in six and seven games respectively, the Mavs have now surrounded Doncic with the best roster he's had in his six NBA seasons, and the team is peaking at the right time, winning 13 of its last 15 games and having the league's No. 1 defense during that stretch.

The additions of Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington have completely flipped the script for the Mavs, as their entire roster is now full of long, athletic players who can make smart reads and switch on defense. The value of both players was perfectly pictured on Friday night, as Washington led Dallas in Doncic's absence, scoring a team-best 32 points to go with five rebounds, three assists, five steals and two blocks. Gafford finished with 10 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and three blocks.

Sure, the Clippers have a proven two-time champion in Kawhi Leonard who has had a lot of success against the Mavs over the years, but he's also dealt with knee inflamation over this last week, and he certainly hasn't faced a Dallas defense as stout as this current one is.

Time will tell if this Mavs-Clippers first round matchup actually happens, but the chances are good, and the Mavs aren't the same underdogs they used to be.