DALLAS — After a tough stretch following the All-Star break, the Dallas Mavericks head into the season’s final sprint still trying to figure out which streak is the real version of themselves.
Dallas (36-28, 8th place) is only 3-5 since their season-best seven game win streak that followed the NBA trade deadline last month. Within the current stretch, only losses to Philadelphia and Cleveland were particularly competitive.
The losses to Indiana (twice) and Boston were by an average of 22 points, and Rick Carlisle clapping up his former team twice within a week led many to point to the coach that succeeded him as the biggest issue for the Mavericks as the team failed to make adjustments between meetings.
It should be noted that the current roster makeup leaves little room to make a difference when a key defensive member is out, and the depth chart behind Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, when either is having a cold night shooting, makes for an untenable offense.
Dante Exum’s return to the rotation from injury occurred slowly during the loss streak, and as Exum got his feet back under him, the perimeter defender’s presence became an obvious reinforcement for Dallas as their roster got back to full strength.
With Exum back, he joins P.J. Washington, Derrick Jones Jr., and Josh Green where each can press defensively and be rotated out without fear of leaving one gassed. In the slump-busting 114-108 win at home against Miami, the defensive rotation set the tone.
In a game where the offense was dominated by the Luka and Kyrie show, the defensive efforts of Exum along with rookie center Dereck Lively II made the difference. Lively was a +17 and Exum was a +16 in the win, leading the way for Dallas on the night. The victory snapped a three-game loss streak that had sunk the Mavericks to the 8th spot in the Western Conference after they had risen to 6th – and out of the play-in tournament – during their winning streak ahead of the All-Star game.
Continuing their road trip, Dallas’ 142-124 win in Detroit on Saturday night gave the Mavs back-to-back wins for the first time since mid-February. The star backcourt duo poured on 60 combined points, a spectacle that is seemingly the norm, but the game was a master class in what the roster is capable of when the non Luka-Kyrie offense can show up, which Dallas hopes becomes the standard going forward.
Daniel Gafford continued his perfect shooting streak for a third straight game and finished with 17 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. had a 50% streak from deep, adding 17 as well. Hardaway has been in a slump for over a month, and getting him hot for the final sprint of the season is key if Dallas hopes to climb out of the play-ins.
Before all was said and done in Detroit, Luka Doncic had produced his sixth consecutive game with a triple-double with at least 35 points, a new NBA record.
However, Dallas lost three of those games consecutively, which demonstrates the point that the Mavericks still find difficulty marrying Doncic’s brilliance with victories.
Doncic may get accused of having empty stats, especially if they come in Dallas losses, but he was named the Western Conference Player of the Month for February helped by Dallas’ .727 winning percentage during the month.
Doncic averaged 33.4 ppg, 9.6 rebounds, and 10.3 assists in February. So far in March, Doncic has 37.6 ppg, 10.8 rebounds, and 10.6 assists in five games. It’s clear that the only thing keeping Dallas from being a lottery team is the fact that they can send Luka Doncic to the court for 35+ minutes every night, but the team will need to continue to climb the standings for him to get legitimate MVP recognition.
Dallas now heads to the Second City for a Monday night matchup versus the Chicago Bulls – which you can catch on WFAA – before returning home to host Golden State, their first Western Conference opponent since the seven-game win streak capper against Phoenix in late February.
Chicago is 31-32 on their season, good for 9th in the East, but they have been on the rise of late, going 3-1 in their last four games. The Bulls rely on the trio of Demar Derozan, Coby White and Nikola Vucevic to lead the way after former All-Star Zach LeVine saw his season end with a foot injury.
Vucevic is dependable for 20 and 10 on a given night and is on a four-game double-double streak. The key to victory for the Mavs will depend on the frontcourt group of Lively, Gafford, and Maxi Kleber stopping Vucevic, and for the Mavs’ revamped perimeter defense to pressure White, who has stepped up in Lavine’s absence.
The Mavs could have used a successful run against the East teams to keep pace in the loaded West, but find themselves lucky to still be sandwiched within striking distance of a secured playoff spot all things considered.
Dallas is a game behind 6th place Sacramento, 2.5 games back of Southwest division-leading New Orleans, and 2.5 games ahead of 10th place Golden State for the last play-in spot with 18 games remaining in the season.
If the Mavericks can find a way to more regularly turn Luka Magic into wins, their return to intra-conference and divisional opponents will be well timed.
Do you think the Mavericks will parlay Luka’s greatness into more victories down the stretch? Share your thoughts with Irvin on Twitter @Twittirv.
