Dallas Mavericks: Losing To Western Conference’s Elite Becoming Alarming
A 17-8 team shouldn’t have so many question marks, especially if they play in the Western Conference. If the Dallas Mavericks were in the Eastern Conference, they’d probably be the best team in the East.
In order to truly be a world beater in the West, you need to beat teams in the upper echelon of the West. The Golden State Warriors, for example, by being 21-2 and having beaten the Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets twice and the Portland Trail Blazers have proven to be the best team in the NBA.
The Mavericks, now 0-6 against the top-tier teams of the Western Conference, have yet to prove anything.
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Don’t let it go overlooked. Beating teams like Toronto, Chicago and Washington all on the road gives reason to feel optimistic. But again, Dallas doesn’t play in the Eastern Conference. If they did, this probably wouldn’t be such a problem.
But when a team is a contender in the Western Conference, it needs to establish right away that they can contend. The depth is stacked, that much is certain. Yet it doesn’t take long to see which teams stack among the rest out of the top eight.
The Mavericks, as of this moment, are not a contender in the West.
Don’t get me wrong: This offense is still amazing when at full strength. Chandler Parsons didn’t play Saturday against the Warriors, and that proved to costly for Dallas when they fell behind 28 points at one stint. It showed how vital the $46 million man is to this Mavericks team going forward.
It was also bad timing for Parsons to miss a game, seeing how this is the best stretch of basketball he’s played all year, averaging 21.8 points and five rebounds in the month of December.
It’s not just why the Mavs have lost these games. Those reasons are evident, and have been evident all season; lack of front court depth, bad point guard play, etc. Until Dallas actually addresses those issues via free agency or trade, they’re not going to be fixed. It also becomes a concern as to how Dallas has lost.
- 1-point loss to San Antonio
- 21-point loss to Portland
- 3-point loss to Houston
- 9-point loss to Memphis
- 7-point loss to Golden State
- 12-point loss to Phoenix
The losses have come in a multitude of ways. The Spurs loss on opening night was after a stellar first half, a terrible third quarter and terrible defensive execution down the stretch. The Portland loss was … nevermind. The Houson loss was a matter of missing free throws, which has somehow become a major problem for Dallas this season.
Usually known for being a stellar free throw shooting team, Dallas has shot 76.7 percent from the charity stripe.
Put this into perspective: Even though the Mavericks didn’t have a shot in hell at coming back against Golden State on Saturday, if Dallas made those nine free throws they missed, they would’ve had a better chance at winning that game.
If the Mavs even made a free throw or two against Houston, Dallas would’ve won that game. It comes down to late-game execution and actually playing a good game for all fourth quarters. Dallas hasn’t done either of those in any of these losses.
It won’t be long before Dallas gets another crack at a top-tier team, when they take on San Antonio on Saturday. Fortunately for the Mavericks, the banged-up Spurs come to Dallas not playing their best basketball as of late, but that shouldn’t even matter.
Dallas needs a win over a top-tier team before we can crown them as a contender. There will be nights Dirk Nowitzki isn’t playing well, and nights when Monta Ellis isn’t shooting well. The question becomes if the Mavs can overcome all of that and win games.
Until they do, the Mavs will be a team that has plenty of good wins, but no great wins. And you need great wins in the West in order to be a contender.