Another year,
another race to get in the playoffs for the Dallas Mavericks.
This year, however, the Mavs look to be in good shape, to
not only punch a ticket to the playoffs but also get a matchup most would deem
more favorable for the Mavs.
The Mavs cap off their road trip tonight playing at Utah,
also known as the “bad city” as Dirk would say.
After the road trip, the Mavs return home to face the Spurs
on Thursday, the Suns on Saturday, and then finish the season at Memphis.
If the Mavs are able to take care of the last place team in
the Western Conference tonight in Utah, they would return home to face the
Spurs, a game in which you can’t rule out Popovich benching his star players.
Then the Mavs would be home for a very crucial game vs. the Suns that could
determine the tiebreaker if there so happens to be one. Lastly, they would go
to Memphis in another game that could have implications if the records are the
same at the conclusion of the regular season.
So in conclusion, the Mavs play the last ranked team in the
West, possibly the Spurs bench, and two evenly matched teams.
The Suns have a similar road to the end of the season.
Tomorrow they play the Pelicans, and then Friday they too play the Spurs, which
again could be a game against the bench. Their next two games are against the
Mavs and Grizzlies, two opponents that are pretty similarly matched with them
in the standings. They finish off the season against a bottom-of-the-ranks team
in the Kings.
The Grizzlies have a bit of a tougher road to the end. Tomorrow
they play a Miami Heat team motivated to keep the number one seed in the East
away from the Indiana Pacers. Then, they have two cushion games against the
76ers and Lakers, but then finish off with consecutive competitive games
against the Mavs and Suns. Though the schedule may not look too much worse than
the Mavs, the Grizzlies currently stand 9th in the standings, 1.5
games behind the Mavs and a game behind the Suns for the 8th spot.
Catching the Warriors for the 6 spot is a bit out of the
question because the Mavs are 1.5 games behind the Warriors and the Warriors
have the tiebreaker, thanks to a win in Dallas a couple weeks ago (where the
Mavs got robbed of a goal-tend call).
If Dallas can close out the season strong, and get some luck
from Popovich, they may very well enter the playoffs as the 7 seed and probably
would have to face off against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
That would be a
scenario they would embrace rather than be the 8th seed and take on
the Spurs in the first round.
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