NBA Standings Watch: Mavs Stay Put on Day Off; Lakers, Suns Lose
With the Western Conference standings being as tight as they are, every day is a big one for the Dallas Mavericks, even when they don't have a game to play. Coming off a blowout loss to the league-leading Boston Celtics on Friday, the Mavs got some help in the West standings on their day off on Saturday.
Although the Mavs stayed at No. 8 in the West, they moved to within one game of No. 6 after the Phoenix Suns lost to the Houston Rockets. Keeping up with the Suns is significant, as Dallas won the regular-season tiebreaker if the two teams were to end up with the same record at season's end.
USA TODAY Sports
There is a good chance the Mavs can pass the Suns if they take care of business, though, as Dallas has the eighth-easiest remaining schedule, and Phoenix has the hardest remaining schedule.
Coming into Saturday night, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers were just 1.5 games behind the Mavs at No. 9 in the West. However, following a loss to Nikola Jokic's defending-champion Denver Nuggets, the Lakers are now two games back of the Mavs while also having lost the regular-season tiebreaker to them as well. So essentially, the Mavs really have a three-game lead on the Lakers, who have the fifth-hardest remaining schedule in their final 20 games of the season.
Other Dallas notes: 1) The Golden State Warriors have looked more like their old selves lately, having won eight of their last 10 games and climbing to within 1.5 games of the Mavs at the No. 9 spot in the West. Dallas still has three more games against the Warriors coming up on the schedule. 2) The Sacramento sit just a half-game ahead of the Mavs at the No. 7 spot in the West. Dallas still has two more matchups with the Kings during this final stretch of the season. 3) The New Orleans Pelicans currently occupy the No. 6 spot in the West, sitting 1.5 games ahead of the Mavs. New Orleans and Dallas tied at 2-2 in its regular-season series.
Sunday will provide another interesting day of watching the standings for the Mavs, as they take on the Joel Embiid-less Philadelphia 76ers, who have lost 12 of their last 17 games. Meanwhile, coming off a loss, the Suns have to turn around and face the No. 2 Oklahoma City Thunder on a second night of a back-to-back.
Check back in with DallasBasketball.com for more daily updates throughout the rest of this season.
