Could The Mavs Miss The Playoffs? (West Playoff Race)

Scalabrine · Post #1 » by **Scalabrine** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:30 pm

Dirk, There only consistent scorer and go to guy just went down against the Spurs and will be out for two weeks, they are sitting in the 7th spot in the West right now but are only half a game ahead of the Warriors for the eigth spot and just 1 and a hlaf games in fornt of the Denver Nuggets who are currently sitting in the lottery. People have been saying all along that in the West you have to stay healthy to make it because of the level of competition but we saw Houston when Yao went down real off 10 straight, but now they too are looking a little frail and they too can fall out with a weak finish.

Denver Houston and Dallas have 12 more games and Golden State has 13 more games:
Denver
6 home gmaes
6 away games
(7 games against +.500 teams TWO BIG ONES AGAINST THE WARRIORS and one vs. DALLAS)
Dallas
5 home games
7 away games
(7 games against +.500 teams and also TWO AGAINST THE WARRIORS and obviously one with DENVER)
Houston
5 home games
7 away games
(4 games against +.500 teams)
Golden State
7 home games
6 away games
(8 against +.500 teams with 2 games against both WARRIORS AND DENVER).

Since the Mavs have acquired Kidd they have yet to beat a playoff team from either conference in 8 tries, THEY ARE 0-8 against teams with a +500 record since the trade. With the loss of Dirk for two weeks that means he will miss 7 our of the last 12 games. Is it realistic to assume the Mavs could go 4-8 in this final 12 game stretch for the playoffs? If so that would give the Nuggets a good chance needing to play .500 ball the rest of the way with a 6-6 record which can be done (they should go 7-5 if they split with GSW and win the games they are supposed to, if they lose to Dallas that would make them go 6-6).

Right now the numbers are against Dallas and since the finals Dallas has really come up short when it comes to the big games they need to win. Im rooting for Denver on this one and against Dallas, I dont dislike any of the teams fighting for there lives so my opinion is not bias but I do dislike Jason Kidd, he gets way to much credit for his past and is just a shell of his former self who rarely puts the ball in the basket, he has proven time and time again that he is a bad person and he demanded a trade from the Nets who gave him everything, the jerk has it coming and if they do miss the playoffs, his skill and leadership ability (why many think Dallas made the trade) should be questioned heavily.

A.J. · Post #2 » by **A.J.** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:33 pm

call me crazy but i truely believe the mavs are done

Post #3 » by **dockingsched** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:42 pm

denver isn't catching anyone.

Scalabrine · Post #4 » by **Scalabrine** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:49 pm

besides Houston they have the easiest schedule:
Memphis - 2
Dallas - 1
Warriors - 2
Phoenix - 2
Kings - 1
Clippers - 1
Seattle - 1
and there last three games are against Utah, Houston, and Memphis. Utah and Houston will most likely be locked into a playoff spot and likely wont play there core major minutes and even rest some players. They could win those last 3 games which would be huge.

I really dont think you read the post if you dont think Denver can catch anyone, they certainitly have the team and schedule to catch them and they really control there own destiny. The Warriors also control there own destiny.

Post #5 » by **FJS** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:57 pm

Utah and Houston maybe would be locked into playoff... but a win is a difference between home court advantadge or not, so I won't call it easy games.

Storm Surge · Post #6 » by **Storm Surge** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:02 pm

Who will score now without Dirk? Asking Jason Kidd to step up his scoring? haha.

MrDollarBills · Post #7 » by **MrDollarBills** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:13 pm

Hopefully Kidd's deadly shooting from the arc will propel them to victory!!!!

Scoob Seriously · Post #8 » by **Scoob Seriously** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:17 pm

MrDollarBills wrote:Hopefully Kidd's deadly shooting from the arc will propel them to victory!!!!

deadly only to those near the basket, when the airball hits them in the head.

hermes · Post #9 » by **hermes** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:38 pm

i don't know if dnever can catch the mavs, unless they completely fall apart

MaxRider · Post #10 » by **MaxRider** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:39 pm

FJS wrote:Utah and Houston maybe would be locked into playoff... but a win is a difference between home court advantadge or not, so I won't call it easy games.

Utah is 99% lock because of being division leader
Houston, i'm not so sure
our offense is too predictable
if team play good defense then we are doom

halfHAVOC · Post #11 » by **halfHAVOC** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:15 pm

Storm Surge wrote:Who will score now without Dirk? Asking Jason Kidd to step up his scoring? haha.

well if josh howard wasn't a pu$$y anymore, he could put up a stretch of avg 30 ppg or somethin, terry can add his 20 , and stack can drop 15. theres ur scoring.

JordansBulls · Post #12 » by **JordansBulls** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:18 pm

Man I feel sorry for the Mavs. How do you go to winning 67 games one year and lose in the first round to possibly going the next season with the same team and not make the playoffs?

carrottop12 · Post #13 » by **carrottop12** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:22 pm

Regardless of who makes the 8th seed, who ever wins the first seed isn't getting any prize going up against Denver, Golden State or possibly Dallas who like the Suns have recently, could find their stride and become the hottest team in the league at any point with Dirk healthy.

Wouldn't it be ironic if the Mavs got the 8th seed and came back and beat the 1 seed this year.

Harm14 · Post #14 » by **Harm14** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:26 pm

JordansBulls wrote:Man I feel sorry for the Mavs. How do you go to winning 67 games one year and lose in the first round to possibly going the next season with the same team and not make the playoffs?

Maybe they can get Devin back somehow.

JordansBulls · Post #15 » by **JordansBulls** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:31 pm

Harm14 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Maybe they can get Devin back somehow.

Why does everyone keep thinking it is Devin Harris? The problem wasn't losing Harris, the problem was losing Diop. They don't have any defense in the paint now.

LAKESHOW · Post #16 » by **LAKESHOW** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:34 pm

when is cuban going to fire those cronies running his front office and coaching his ball club.

now they need more people chipping in for scoring. jason kidd cannot score, or is not brought in to score. with nowitsky out, they are in a bigger disadvantage.

they should have never made that trade. this is an organization killing itself by trading away key pieces in key situations.

they had a good team with nash a few years ago. they had a good team with that bunch they dropped to the nets. and now they will be out of the playoffs. and they deserve it.

yehyeh82 · Post #17 » by **yehyeh82** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:35 pm

JordansBulls wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Why does everyone keep thinking it is Devin Harris? The problem wasn't losing Harris, the problem was losing Diop. They don't have any defense in the paint now.

Eh, maybe, but when you lose your best guard perimeter defender and your best rim defender, then it's easy to see that some defensive problems can occur. Having the opposing pg blow by Kidd with no interior help is a lot worse than having the opposing pg get slowed down by Harris and run into interior help.

Lately they have been playing better defense however.

LAKESHOW · Post #18 » by **LAKESHOW** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:37 pm

yehyeh82 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Lately they have been playing better defense however.

of course, and it aint because theyre good at it. the motivation of winning the 9th seed is a GIGANTIC factor.

Scalabrine · Post #19 » by **Scalabrine** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 7:18 pm

hermes wrote:i don't know if dnever can catch the mavs, unless they completely fall apart

The Mavs have a much tougher schedule going forward and havent proven they can beat good teams (so far they are 0-8 against above .500 teams) with Dirk, im curious to see what they do without Dirk. Like I said before if the Mavs finish up these last 12 (dirk will miss 7 of them) lets say 4-8 the Nuggets would only have to go 6-6 to pass them in the standings. The Mavs are losing players at a big time while the Nuggets are getting players healthy. Look at the Nuggets lineup that will come back in the next 2 weeks.

Atkins/Iverson/Carter
Iverson/Smith/Kleiza
Anthony/Kleiza/Diawara
Martin/Najera/Nene/Anthony
Camby/Nene/Hunter

thats a really solid and deep 12 man rotation that has a little bit of everything. They have gone 5-2 in there last 7 and are playing good defense and the offense is starting to come together with Kleiza and Smith becoming a consistent 3a and 3b option. Atkins will be a step up at there weakest position (PG) and move Carter to the 3rd guard making him one of the better 3rd string guards in the league. I think this team is in stride right now and is only going to get stronger, there really isnt much of an advantage competition wise in the west by being the top seed, its really the Home Court that will be the only advantage.

BROWN · Post #20 » by **BROWN** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 7:48 pm

I don't feel bad at all.
Regardless of they make it or not, I don't want the warriors getting the 8th seed and playing the Lakers, I rather them play the rockets.
If Dallas gets the 8th seed i'm fine with it.