Dallas Mavericks stumbled in their first outing in the bubble. In a game rife with defensive missteps, the Mavericks lost to the Houston Rockets 153-149 in the bubble restart. The team struggled noticeably with poor defense. A slow start by Luka Doncic and ice-cold game by Seth Curry did not help. This was because James Harden dropped almost 50 points on an efficient scoring night.

The Mavericks may be a lock for the playoffs in everyone’s eyes, but they are yet to mathematically confirm a bid to the post-season. The Mavericks could feasibly be caught by the eight-seeded Memphis Grizzlies if the Grizzlies were to win all their games and Dallas lose all theirs. While that is an improbability, it is not an impossibility.

As indicated by Marc Stein, the Mavericks still need one more win to book a place in the playoffs. The playoff position could also be confirmed by a Memphis loss. The Mavericks face the Phoenix Suns, who are also trying to make their way into the playoffs. They follow this game up with the Kings, Clippers, Bucks, Jazz, Trail Blazers, and then the Suns again. The Grizzlies’ next game is against the San Antonio Spurs, who beat the Sacramento Kings in their first bubble game.

Dallas Mavericks in the 2020 playoffs

The Dallas Mavericks have surprised most people by making this deep a run this season. Luka’s sudden ascension to MVP-level and the return of Kristaps Porzingis to form have all been contributors. The primary thing has been Rick Carlisle finding the perfect offensive system to allow Luka to control the pace of the game. The Mavericks are on pace to be the greatest regular-season offense of all-time and Luka became the youngest player to have a 50 ppg contribution per game across a season,

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The team is a little too un-seasoned for a deep playoff run. Outside Seth Curry and J.J. Barea, no one on the team has made deep playoff runs. This will be Luka’s first playoff appearance as well, so we are still not sure of what we can expect from Luka at that level.

The Mavericks shouldn’t worry about getting a playoff spot, but should worry about possibly facing the Clippers or the Nuggets in the first round. No harm is done if they were to be eliminated, but no one should be surprised if they pull off a series upset. That is what this team is designed to do.

Source: ESPN, Marc Stein Twitter