Dallas Mavericks: Should the Mavs fear the play-in tournament?
By Duncan Smith
Reason No. 1 the Dallas Mavericks fear the play-in: More teams are playing to win
There’s one thing you could count on in the NBA in years gone by. Bad teams would jettison as many good players as possible via trade or buyout in the hopes of tanking, and the good teams would scoop them up and benefit wildly from the situation.
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This season has been a totally different situation. Teams that would have begrudgingly accepted their tanking condition, like the Chicago Bulls, actually ended up going all-in to win now in the hopes of squeaking into the play-in. Instead of hurricaning off their best contributors to other teams around the league, they traded two first-round picks in a deal to get Nikola Vucevic from the Orlando Magic.
The Mavs are in the West and the Bulls are in the East, but the concept holds true across the board. There are very few easy wins this season, even considering how many teams are hampered by injuries. Any team with a shot at the play-in is keeping it in their sights, and it’s going to make life harder for teams like the Dallas Mavericks who sit seventh in the Western Conference and desperately want to get out of play-in standings.
Life is a bit tougher for the bottom of the middle of the playoff standings, and the Mavs are right in that at-risk tier.