With playoffs in sight, a strong finish could make young Dallas Mavericks seed greedy
Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle doesn’t know where his team sits in the Western Conference playoff seeding.
At least, that’s what he claimed after the team’s Thursday practice before they departed for Orlando for their 6:30 p.m. Friday game against the Magic.
The Mavs have 27 games left in the regular season and begin the “second half” tied for the sixth seed in the playoffs with the Oklahoma City Thunder and would play the No. 2 seed Denver Nuggets if the season ended now. The teams split the first two games, however, the final game of the regular season will be between these two clubs at American Airlines Center. Entering Thursday night’s play, Dallas has a four-and-a-half game lead over the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Is that as good as Dallas could hope? Or is there potential to move up a spot or two? Or do you see the team stalling down the stretch and barely sneaking in the postseason for the first time since 2016?
An examination of their final 27 games seems to foretell a positive conclusion to the regular season.
Of the 27 opponents remaining, 15 have a losing record. And only 12 of the games are at the American Airlines Center. Why is that good for the Mavs? Because only the Los Angeles Lakers (23-5) have a better record on the road than the Mavs’ 18-8.
If Dallas closes the regular season with a relatively disappointing 15-12, they’d still finish with 48 wins. That wasn’t good enough for two teams since the NBA went to an eight-team deep playoff format. The Warriors in 2008 and Suns in 2014 both finished ninth with 48 wins and missed the playoffs. The 1972 Suns have the best record (49-33) in the history of the league to miss the playoffs, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Carlisle, of course, knows that such a young team with little-to-no playoff-stretch experience, including their stars Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis, will be treading uncharted waters.
“This 27 games is a tough stretch but it will go by quickly and we’ve got to make the most of it,” Carlisle said. “I’ve got to be patient. We have to try to nudge it along but nothing happens overnight when you’re talking about an endeavor of trying to get a young team acclimated to what playoff basketball is all about.”
Back during his first several seasons with the Mavs, Carlisle said he knew exactly where the team stood in the playoff standings as the season wound down. Those teams, however, were veteran laden, he said, so he used a different coaching tact.
“This is a rebuild from the ground back up over the last three years. The challenges are different,” he said. “Things need to be brought along in an organic way on the one hand. On the other hand, you’re always teaching and you’re always looking for things that are important to what we’re trying to do culturally and what we’re trying to do in the big picture.”
At some point, Carlisle admits, he’ll be forced to start looking at the seeding and potential playoff matchups.
“My focus has been solely on the group and the staff in an effort to do the things that are moving us forward all of the time,” he said. “At the end of the day, the only thing that we really control is what goes on in this gym with our team and how we approach the next game.”
Carlisle doesn’t want his young team to look too far down the road.
And veterans such as guard Seth Curry know it.
“You’ve got to look at [the playoff standings], but you can’t let it effect the way you play or practice,” Curry said. “You should be getting better and better as the season goes along and heading to the playoffs we should be playing our best basketball.
“Hopefully, everyone is healthy and playing well. You get a little bit more serious in your preparation and [making sure] we’re getting better. You should be clicking on all cylinders the last few months. It’s about whatever it takes to win.”
