The Dallas Mavericks’ five most important remaining games

The Dallas Mavericks look like a basketball team again. The sky looked like it was falling after Dallas’ 30 point loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers last week, but since then the Mavs have looked great, and even the Rajon Rondo experiment looks like its taken big strides.

But now, the Mavs find themselves in a fight with the Clippers and Spurs for the No. 5-7 seeds. Plus, they are not too far behind fourth place. With that being said, there are five big games remaining on the schedule that could be very big as far as playoff seeding goes. Naturally, every game at this point is important, but these five stuck out the most:

1. Grizzlies at home, March 20: Tonight’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies is extremely important for a variety of reasons. For starters, this is the last game in the season series between the two teams and the Mavs have a chance to take that 3-1 with a win. Plus, the Mavs want to make their record against Southwest Division opponents as good as they possibly can. The possibility of ending the season with the same record as either the Spurs or Rockets is very real, and record versus division opponents could be used for tiebreaker situations.

2. Spurs at home, March 24: This one is pretty obvious, but the importance of any game against the Spurs can’t be overstated. Add to the fact how close they are in the standings, and it becomes even more crucial that the Mavs beat the Spurs at home. Plus, this particular game carries more weight because Dallas’ next opponent is…

3. Spurs on the road, March 27: A weird scheduling quirk has the Mavs playing a home-and-home with the Spurs. This makes the March 24 home game against San Antonio even more important. I think the Mavs need to AT LEAST win one of these, and, obviously, the home game will probably be the easier one to get. If they can win both, awesome. If not they either need to get this one, or the one at home.

4. Rockets at home, April 2: This is the final game of the season the Mavs will play against Houston and, like the three previous times before this one, it will come on the second night of a back-t0-back. Dallas will be on the road against the Oklahoma City Thunder before in what’s sure to be a tough matchup before Houston. But, beating the Rockets the next night could be one of the biggest wins for the Mavs to date. Not only would a win tie the season series at 2-2, but it would close the gap  between Dallas and Houston in the standings, and give the Mavs an OUTSIDE chance at jumping them by the time the season ends. Obviously, a lot depends on what Houston and Dallas do between now and this game, but no one can deny the importance of it. Plus, Houston should have Dwight Howard back by this point, and the Mavs haven’t played the Rockets with Howard this year. It’ll be interesting to see how they match up with Houston at full strength, given that this could be a playoff preview.

5. Trail Blazers at home, April 15: This is the regular season finale for the Mavs, and it could be a big one depending on what the standings look like at the time. As of right now, the Mavs are the No. 5 seed and Portland is sitting at N0. 4. The teams are separated by 1.5 games in the standings, so the chance still exists that Dallas can some how wind up in the No. 4 spot. Now, a lot can change in the few weeks leading up to this game, but even if Dallas isn’t in contention for the N0. 4 seed anymore, a win or loss may mean the difference between No. 5 and No. 7.