Dallas Sports: Texas Rangers News Dallas Cowboys News Dallas Mavericks News Dallas Stars News InsideCorner Blog D Magazine » Blog Archive

The NBA Run-In

Posted on April 1st, 2009 7:49am by Bob Sturm
Filed under Dallas Mavericks, Sturm

Ah, the Race for Seeds 5-8. How do the schedules look? Mira!

Last night, the Mavs won, the Blazers smashed the Jazz in Portland, and the Hornets snuck out of Sacto with a 1 point win.

The key here, of course, is for the Mavericks to get out of the #8 seed to avoid the Lakers. Well, as you can see, that is not going to be an easy proposition. The team closest to their range is the Utah Jazz, who are a very poor 14-22 on the road this season. But, what might save their bacon is the 2nd tie-breaker; conference record, where they hold a huge lead on the Mavericks. That means any tie with Utah goes to the Jazz.

Portland is a different animal, as the Mavericks hold the head-to-head tiebreakers, but with a 3 game lead with 8 to play, they would really have to collapse on this road trip they are about to head off on.

New Orleans has beaten the Mavericks 2 out of 2, with 2 more games ahead. They also hold the 2nd tie-breaker, the divisional record. So, all ties go to the Hornets.

Honestly, if you simply count the wins, you see that the Mavs seem trapped in #8 barring something pretty crazy in the final 3 weeks.

Team	Utah	Portland	NewOrleans	Dallas
Record	46-28	47-27	46-27	44-30
4/1	-	-	@ LAC	MIA
4/2	@ DEN	-	-	-
4/3	MIN	@ OKC	@ GS	@ MEM
4/4	-	-	-	-
4/5	@ NO	@ HOU	UTA	PHX
4/6	-	-	-	-
4/7	-	@ MEM	@ MIA	-
4/8	@ DAL	@ SAS	PHX	UTA
4/9	-	-	-	-
4/10	@ SAS	LAK	@ DAL	NO
4/11	GS	@ LAC	-	-
4/12	-	-	DAL	@ NO
4/13	LAC	OKC	@ HOU	MIN
4/14	@ LAK	-	-	-
4/15	-	DEN	@ SAS	HOU

Table Tutorial

4 Comments to “The NBA Run-In”

Juan Gone @ April 1st, 2009 at 8:42 am

Mavs could go 7-1 their last 8 games and with the way Utah has played on the road against +.500 teams they could easily lose their last 5 road games. They could finish at 4-4 or 3-5. Utah is the only team the Mavs have a chance of catching
Jared @ April 1st, 2009 at 9:06 am

If the Mavs beat Utah on the 8th they have a legitimate shot of finishing ahead of them. Utah is terrible on the road and as you can see above they have a really tough road schedule.

If they Mavs can pull off two wins against NO they have a chance there as well but that seems unlikely.
Gary Collard @ April 1st, 2009 at 11:39 am

I give Dallas a fair good shot to catch Utah. Even if you give them a win against a resting Lakers in game 82 they are at 50 wins most likely, and Dallas would need to beat either NO and Hou at home to match them.

But…Utah wins the tiebreak, better conference record, so on second thought Dallas needs to beat both of those teams at home, a much tougher task and one that makes them a solid dog on further review.
JS @ April 1st, 2009 at 12:39 pm

Mavs = Done. Please let Phoenix catch them for the 8th spot so I am not on the hook to Cuban for playoff tickets.

InsideCorner is a daily blog-slash-online sports page, covering Dallas teams with original reporting, statistical analysis, obvious observations, and undeniable charm.

Subscribe via RSS (What is RSS?)

Follow InsideCorner on Twitter