With so much still to play for over the last three or four games of the NBA regular season there are surprisingly few teams who are locked in place. One such team though is the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs could win all their remaining games, or they could lose them all, and they will still be the seventh seed in the loaded Western Conference. The Mavericks though know they need to improve, and improve quickly, if they want to make their 2015 postseason trip anything more than one and done.
The Mavs are one of the victims of the high level of play in the Western Conference. If they were in the East right now they would be tied for the third seed and be close to claiming home advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Instead they are playing out the season and waiting to see which of the Western Conference juggernauts they will face in a series where they have to win on the road.
Dallas has played basketball right around the .500 level since the All-Star break. The story of the Mavs season after the break can be shown pretty accurately by their performance in a 107-104 win at home against a Phoenix Suns squad which is headed for the draft lottery. In that game the Mavs gave up a stunning 63 points in the first half, played with no energy, and really looked like a team who has no interest in even being in the playoffs. In the second half however they played much more fundamentally sound basketball, with a higher tempo, and looked like a team who could do some damage in the postseason.
Even with all that being said, the Mavs still almost managed to shoot themselves in the foot. The Suns had three, yes THREE, chances to send the game into overtime but misfired on a trio of three point attempts. The near meltdown from the Mavs came about because Phoenix was able to grab two offensive boards and steal an inbound pass at a time in the game where Dallas should have been playing with their highest levels of concentration and execution.
Dallas certainly has the horses to make some noise later this month. One of the bright spots about this current slate of games for the Mavs in which the results aren’t all that important is that it is giving the team a chance to get as healthy as they have been all season. The NBA playoffs can be a huge grind, so going in fresh and feeling good about your body is a huge advantage for any team.
The poster child for this right now is Tyson Chandler. Chandler may not have been facing monsters in the front court when the Mavs took on the Suns, but his 12 points, 23 rebounds performance was a huge step in the right direction for a player who has looked lethargic and out of sorts for weeks.
The other player the Mavs need to have at his best in the playoffs is of course Dirk Nowitzki. Unbelievably, Nowitzki is in his 17th NBA season and like so many of the league veterans, he has become a master at conserving his energy and turning up his game when the postseason arrives. Tellingly Dirk has averaged 19 points, while shooting over 50% from the field, over the Mavs last five games. Though he has looked off his game for much of the year you would be a brave man if you were betting against Nowitzki continuing to improve over the next few weeks.
Momentum and consistency will be what the Mavs are looking for over the next few games. If Nowitski and Chandler, along with Chandler Parsons and Rajon Rondo, can enter the playoffs rested, but still carrying their form, then the Mavs undoubtedly have the ability to be a horrible draw as the seventh seed in the West. With their mix of experience and coaching Dallas has all the right ingredients to make a playoff run again in 2015.