How tough is the Dallas Mavericks schedule for the rest of the season?
Suffering through injuries and struggling to incorporate star point guard Kyrie Irving, the Dallas Mavericks are stumbling toward the NBA”s finish line.
Since February, Luka Doncic and Irving have missed multiple games, including the Mavs’ recent back-to-back losses to the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Mavs are currently riding a three-game losing streak heading into Wednesday’s game at San Antonio.
Since Irving was acquired in early February, Dallas has a 6-9 record. The Mavs are currently the eighth seed in the Western Conference. If the playoffs started today, they would find themselves in the play-in tournament and fighting for a playoff spot.
The seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th seeds in each conference are selected for the Play-In Tournament. Only two of those four teams advance.
The Mavs are hoping to avoid the Play-In Tournament altogether or at least maintain partial homecourt advantage in the tournament, but they must start winning.
So how tough is the Mavs schedule to end the season?
Not tough at all according to Tankathon.com which says the Mavs have the fourth-easiest schedule to end the NBA season.
However, the Mavs margin for error to end the season is still non-existent.
The Mavs (34-35) currently lead the ninth, 10th and 11th seeds by only half a game. In fact, the 13th-seed Portland Trailblazers only trail the Mavs by 2.5 games.
While the Mavs have an easy schedule to end the year, other playoff contenders also have an easy road ahead.
The Los Angeles Lakers (33-35), currently the ninth-seed, have the easiest schedule to end the year.
The New Orleans Pelicans (33-35), currently the 10th seed, have the fifth easiest schedule to end the year. Both teams only trail the Mavs by half a game.
Inversely, if the Mavs are two games behind the fifth-seeded Golden State Warriors (36-33) and the sixth-seeded Los Angles Clippers (36-33) who have the 18th and 15th toughest schedules respectively.
If the Mavs finished in sixth place they would avoid the Play-In Tournament completely.
The NBA season is rapidly coming to a close with only 13 games left in the season for the Mavs.
The Mavs only have five games remaining against winning teams: the Memphis Grizzlies, Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors.
The Mavs eight remaining games against losing teams are headlined by the Atlanta Hawks (34-35), Indiana Pacers (31-38) , Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls (31-36). They’ll play Charlotte Hornets (22-48) and San Antonio Spurs (17-50) twice apiece as well.
Eight of the last thirteen games will be on the road where the Mavs have struggled mightily this season going 12-21. Of their five remaining home games, two will be against playoff-bound western conference teams in the Warriors and Kings.
The biggest matchups to end the season for the Mavs will come against the Warriors and Lakers, both games will be critical for playoff seeding.
For the Mavs, the full spectrum of possibilities still exists from making the playoffs comfortably to not making them at all. It all depends on how they finish the season and how far Irving and Dončić can carry this roster.
This story was originally published March 14, 2023 at 4:10 PM.
