Champion Mavericks on verge of playoff berth
The Dallas Mavericks are one win away from finally not having to hear questions about becoming the first team since the 1998-99 Chicago Bulls to go from NBA champions to out of the playoffs.
The Mavs didn't look pretty for much of Wednesday's 117-110 win over the Houston Rockets, who likely saw their playoff hopes dashed with the loss, but Dallas did show some positive signs in putting together a 39-point fourth quarter after trailing by as many as nine in the third quarter in front of a tense home crowd.
Dallas returned to the sixth seed, and it holds the advantage in the final three games to stay there over the Denver Nuggets because the Mavs hold the tiebreaker. Anything higher is out of the question at this point, which means the Mavs will start the playoffs on the road.
But the veteran team seems more concerned with building momentum after it snapped a two-game losing skid than where it will open the defense of its title.
"If we win Friday, we're in," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "We understand things and we talked about it this morning. This game was really pivotal in so many ways because it's a double-count game on the whole magic number thing, and it effectively takes one team out of it, which is big. We've got three more important games to go and they're all meaningful."
Winning Friday should only be a formality against a depleted Golden State Warriors team that has been terrible on the road all season. The Mavs then play just two games over the next six days of the regular season, meaning the oldest team in the league will have plenty of rest heading into the postseason.
