After winning on the second night of a back-to-back to snap a five-game skid versus the San Antonio Spurs, the Dallas Mavericks are set to take on the Spurs again tonight on the road.
Given the Spurs’ limitations from a rim protection standpoint with Victor Wembanyama out for the rest of this season, the Mavericks matchup well with the Spurs compared to a lot of other teams in the NBA, so there’s a decent chance the Mavericks could pull away with a second victory in a row for their first time since multiple games before Kyrie Irving’s torn ACL.
There’s a chance that the Mavericks will get some reinforcements soon which could invigorate some life back into their lineup, but how soon those reinforcements will return and how effective they can be in time for the NBA Playoffs is the question at hand for the Mavericks currently, though all signs are pointing toward the Mavericks at least making the NBA Play-In tournament.
The Mavericks currently have a 2.5-game lead in the standings over the 11th seeded Phoenix Suns, and Dallas is one game behind the Sacramento Kings for the ninth seed, and 2.5 games behind the LA Clippers in the eighth seed. Given Dallas’ injury wipeout and their inconsistent shot creation with Irving out of the lineup for the rest of the season, it seems unlikely Dallas could surpass the Clippers or even the Kings, but it also doesn’t seem like the Suns will eclipse the Mavericks either.
Suns’ brutal schedule hands Mavericks a golden playoff opportunity
Don’t get it twisted, the Suns could play some great basketball down the stretch and the Mavericks could start dropping games at record pace again after their win over the Spurs on Monday, but the Suns have the toughest remaining strength of schedule out of any team in the league down the stretch of the season with their remaining opponents having an average win percentage of .594.
With that being said, it will be very difficult for the Mavericks to be so bad that they fall out of the play-in despite many fans’ plea for the Mavericks to tank. Despite beating the injury-riddled Mavericks recently, Phoenix’s defense hasn’t elevated to the level Suns fans hoped for when they traded for center Nick Richards at the trade deadline, and they’ve gone just 4-6 in their last 10 contests.
With Phoenix facing the toughest opponent winning percentage throughout their remaining schedule in the entire league and the Kings being at second place on that list not being even close to the Suns at only .555, it’s almost more likely the Mavericks pass up the Kings for ninth seed than it is that Phoenix will make the play-in over the Mavericks.
This year’s draft class is as talented as ever, and the notion that the Mavericks should tank makes sense at face value from that perspective of how disastrous this season has been for the Mavericks, but it’s a lot harder to justify in practice.
From the Mavericks’ perspective, they are seeing fans as angry and averse toward their franchise as ever due to a multitude of reasons, and the organization likely wants to reconcile their season in any way possible given this PR nightmare.
Without Irving at the helm, it’s unquestionable this Mavericks team isn’t talented enough to go on a run to another NBA Finals. However, Dallas’ bigs coming back and blending with their current talent pool could provide an interesting dynamic to this team, and if the likes of Anthony Davis or Dereck Lively II return to Dallas’ lineup with more than five or so games to spare before the end of the regular season, perhaps the Mavericks could manufacture some momentum heading into the play-in to try and make a run at the playoffs.
The Mavericks could still easily fall out of the 10th seed if they make some sort of decision to punt on this season, but it seems like the Mavericks will at least try and compete as hard as they can to make the best out of a terrible situation, and all signs are pointing toward Davis returning this season.
While tanking could provide the idealistic outcome for the Mavericks, it is illogical for this team to just give up after all the adversity they’ve fought through this season.
