[4thewinParticipant]

Does any body on the forum think that Dallas has a shot to take the eighth seed away from the LAL?
With the win over LAC today that are 1 game behind the Lakers with 11 to go. Their remaining schedule
is: Indy(H),Chi(H),Lal(A),Den(A),Sac(A),Por(A),Phx(H),Den(H),Noh(A),Mem(H),Noh(H)

Tues second of April is the key date. Lal lead the regular season series 2-1

[Chilbert arenasParticipant]

I honesly only see them winning 5 of those 11. As much as I want them to make the playoffs and knock the Lakers out I just don’t see it happening.

[j1232eParticipant]

The Mavs are playing their best basketball of the season right now, which is very key. I still think Utah sneaks in to that 8 spot. The Jazz also have the tie breakers against LA and Dallas, so that is also something to keep in mind.

[tblazer_NZParticipant]

Utah is still a good shot but I see them going 5-6. If they go 6-5 and the Lakers lose to Dallas and go 5-6, then Dallas would have to go 7-4 to make it otherwise like you said the tie-breakers are in favour of Utah. Portland has a part to play in who goes through to the playoffs as the play Utah twice, Dallas once and the Lakers once.

[tblazer_NZParticipant]

If they Beat the Lakers on 2nd April, I think it is highly likely it will go to tie-breakers.

[LipstickParticipant]

I wrote a blog post about this a longgg time ago when they were slumping. I just liked the thought of a Dallas-OKC matchup (which probably won’t happen now) where Dallas would likely lose in 4 or 5 but every game would at least go down to the wire rather than a shellacking. Makes for good TV at least.

A win over LAL would change the playoff picture, but losing against them leaves it up to Utah and LAL.

And I have a hard time believing a Mike James-led squad makes the playoffs. I guess you can say the same about Utah.

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

I saw the title of this post and thought to myself “No way”

Then I looked at the standings and wow! The Mavericks are right back in the playoff race, last time I checked, they were 11th and about 5 games back. Now they’re 10th and only a game back. There’s a real shot, especially with Dirk sniffing the finish line.

[HitsterParticipant]

Utah have been on a bad run and after the Lakers finally got their act together they have now lost 3 on the bounce again whilst Dallas have now won 3 on the bounce and are 7-3 in their last 10 games. Obviously Dirk is now getting back to full form after missing a big chunk of the season and this has spurred the Mavs on.

Utah are still in the mix IMO and if Dallas and Lakers are watching each other so closely they may well sneak up on the inside plus other teams may raise their game more against the Lakers and Mavs as they would see them as a bigger play off threat than Utah perhaps.

Also with teams out of contention or with play off births secured, a lot could depend on what sort of line ups these teams put up against the 3 teams in contention for 8th seeding. I would suggest that if one team went 7-4 over the last 11 games they would be very unlucky to miss out, but there are so many permutations especially with the players invloved ( Kobe could drop 400 points in these last 11 games and carry the Lakers over the line etc) that it is hard to call. But I will say that Dallas do seem to have the momentum at the moment.

I will throw a total wilcard in, Portland have to play Utah twice, Dalls and the Lakers once, if they win 3 out of those 4 could they even get in the mix if they got to 41 wins say.

[CynthiaParticipant]

Personally I hope they do make it in, always been a fan of the Mavs. That’s going to be one scary 8th seed too, I think they have a legit chance of beating the Spurs.

[LipstickParticipant]

Does anyone think making the playoffs keeps Dirk’s patience with Dallas at ease, even if it likely leads to a first round exit? Their roster is so…blah…compared to the likes of LAL.

If I’m Dirk I don’t want to deal with a roster like the last two years for the rest of my career, especially if it only leads to 40-45 wins a year, playoffs or not.

[HitsterParticipant]

Dallas has cap space this summer so will be looking to make moves, they would surely have been in a much stronger position if Dirk had not missed 25 odd games and it is no surprise that since his form has picked up

I doubt that Dirk would look to move from Dallas at this stage in his career and maybe Dallas do have to start thinking about the post Dirk era or when he will not be their focal point at least. Dirk could easily play for another 4 or 5 years using his experience and as a finesse big but he would need a star guy alongside him to inherit the franchise player role.

[LipstickParticipant]

There will at least be a crop of point guards to choose from this summer, something they desperately need.

[HitsterParticipant]

Dallas will look to make moves this summer and I’m sure that Mark Cuban will want to put max offers to CP3 and D12, whilst the chances of landing one of these may be doubtful, there are a lot of other good FA’s around. But do Dallas make major moves this summer or try to leave some space for 2014 to consider a run at possibly LeBron.

[j1232eParticipant]

We all know Mark Cuban is not afraid to pull the trigger on a big trade,or spend big money, as long as Cuban can stay focused on the Mavs and not all his other hobbies, I think they could always have a chance.

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