5 Reasons The Dallas Mavericks Are The West’s Weak Link
5. Not A Good Road Team
Last night’s loss dropped the Mavs to 3.5 games behind the San Antonio Spurs for the sixth seed in West. They’re four games behind the Los Angeles Clippers for fifth and 5.5 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for third. The Portland Trail Blazers are four games ahead of the Mavs and are guaranteed a top-four seed because they lead the Northwest Division.
The point of all this? The Mavs have virtually no shot of climbing out of the seventh spot in the West. That means in order for the Mavs to give Dirk Nowitzki that deep playoff run Mark Cuban’s been gunning for, they’ll have to win a series or two without home court advantage.
Mavs 1-7 on road since A-S break. 45 wins, 8 games left. Must win at least 1 of 4 road games to reach 50 wins, and that assumes 4-0 at home.
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) March 30, 2015
The only problem with that is the Mavericks are a very pedestrian road team. Away from American Airlines Center this season, Dallas is 21-17. Teams like the Spurs, Thunder and Blazers have underwhelming road records too, but OKC and Portland are pretty much out of contention anyway because of key injuries and the Spurs get a pass because they’re the freaking Spurs.
In order to make it out of the first round, the Mavs would either face Houston (28-10 at home), Memphis (28-9), Los Angeles (27-11) or San Antonio (29-8) without home court advantage. Those teams are excellent at home. And since the Mavs aren’t exactly dominant at home either (25-13, the worst home record in the top seven of the Western standings), Dallas won’t have ideal conditions to win a series.
Next: No. 4