Mavericks say playoff seed less important than building momentum

With the playoffs set to start in less than three weeks, Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle doesn’t sit around thinking about the difference in finishing the season in the Western Conference’s seventh or eighth spot.

“I’m really just thinking about how we’re playing day-to-day,” Carlisle said before Wednesday’s game against Oklahoma City. “We’re trying to facilitate getting better ourselves as much as we can.

“Wherever things fall, they fall. After 82 games you’re as good as you are.”

The seventh-seed will open the playoffs against Memphis, Houston, Portland, the Los Angeles Clippers or San Antonio. Not exactly an easy road, but probably easier than facing the Warriors.

“Everything’s possible at this point,” forward Dirk Nowitzki said. “Moving down [in the standings] is possible.

“You don’t always want to look down. You always want to improve and make the situation better. We’re going to try everything we can to move as high as we can.”

Dirk hits milestone

In a career dotted with milestones, Nowitzki reached another one Wednesday night.

By scoring 18 points Wednesday, Nowitzki now has 28,004 points in his career. The only players in NBA history with at least 28,000 points are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928), Kobe Bryant (32,482), Michael Jordan (32,292), Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) and Shaquille O’Neal (28,596).

Nowitzki said he wasn’t aware he was about to reach the 28,000-point plateau until someone told him.

“Obviously you know when you close on somebody on the list, and normally I know how many points I need to pass somebody,’’ Nowitzki said. “But I did not know this one.”

Paint job

In an attempt to get some easy baskets or at least get to the free-throw line, the Mavs have tried to attack the paint more often.

And nobody is doing that more frequently than small forward Chandler Parsons.

“He taken the initiative somewhat on himself, and some of it’s just part of what we’re preaching,” Carlisle said. “But we realize the way our conference is you can’t be a successful offensive team just standing around the perimeter.

“You’ve got to attack, attack in the paint, attack the rim. It forces the other team to foul, it breaks down defenses, and a lot of times out here you’ve got to attack the paint two or three times before you can get a quality shot.”

50 no big deal

After Wednesday’s win, the Mavs need four wins in their last seven games to reach 50 victories.

But reaching the magical 50-win barrier is not foremost on their minds.

“Really, we just try to win one game at a time,” Nowitzki said. “That sounds stupid, but you don’t really want to look at trying to win 50.”

This story was originally published April 1, 2015 at 10:20 PM with the headline "Mavericks say playoff seed less important than building momentum."