Mavericks Lose Fifth Straight Game, Fall To .500

The Dallas Mavericks have now lost five-straight games in falling to an even record that now threatens this team’s likelihood to qualify for the Western Conference Playoffs.

The late-season free-fall for the Dallas Mavericks continued at American Airlines Center on Saturday. Former Mavericks Monta Ellis and Ian Mahinmi were happy to see their old stomping grounds as the two combined for 27 points in a 112-105 win for the Indiana Pacers.

Dirk Nowitzki was the game’s leading scorer with 30 points, but it mattered little down the stretch as a 30-point fourth quarter for the Mavericks wasn’t enough to hold off the Pacers.

It’s been pointed out that Nowitzki doesn’t have enough star power surrounding him on a nightly basis. For a player of Nowitzki’s age and skill set, this is indeed an issue.

The reality is that alleged future Mavericks stars like Wesley Matthews and Chandler Parsons don’t bring enough on a game-by-game basis to elevate this team to contender status. Parsons has played very well over the last couple of months, but Matthews is hardly a player that lives up to his hefty paycheck as Dallas’ shooting guard replacement for Ellis, who left for Indy following last season.

Unless a healthy Matthews and Parsons next season mean a better team, this franchise is in some trouble without some added luck in free agency.

So, exactly what does it take to stop this ill-timed skid for the Mavericks this year?

The sad truth is that the offseason itself is the angel of mercy that will end up stopping the bleeding.

There are no quick fixes for the Mavericks. Owner Mark Cuban seems fully committed to trying to build a championship team around Nowitzki within a very short window. With no first-round draft selection this year, the acquisition of some young talent will likely have to wait another year, so forget any crazy luck in the NBA Lottery.

For Cuban, free agency will again be the strategy, an annual exercise is disappointment as no other marquee NBA talents seem to want to take over the reigns for Nowitzki. Right now it’s not even certain that Parsons will be around for 2016-17, which leaves Nowitzki and Matthews as the only two primary pieces that seem to be part of the mix moving forward.

Perhaps it’s time for head coach Rick Carlisle to accept the fact that this team has about the ceiling that most thought it would when the season was just getting started. At this point, it’s probably a good idea to be getting young players like Justin Anderson and Dwight Powell more minutes – it really doesn’t look like Carlisle can’t find minutes for his younger players.

If Dallas was still well-positioned for the playoffs, then things might be different.

In reality, the Mavericks look like a team that peaked just before Christmas and has steadily been dropping slowly but surely in the Western Conference standings. Dallas doesn’t measure up at all against the top four teams in the conference and they’ll certainly draw one of those teams – the Golden State Warriors almost certainly – in the first round.

Only because the Utah Jazz have lost seven of their last 10 games are the Mavs still in the playoff hunt. As the eighth seed with a .500 record, Dallas might just be able to hang on to that last ticket to the postseason.

Five of the Mavericks’ next six games take place against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Warriors (twice) and the sixth-seeded Portland Trail Blazers (twice). These all take place in March.

April will still throw opponents like the seventh-seeded Houston Rockets, fourth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers, fifth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies and top-seeded San Antonio Spurs at a Dallas team that has no more room for error.

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If the Mavs were to lose just those nine games listed above with 16 matchups left on the schedule, they’d finish 40-42, a game worse than the team had the last time they missed the postseason following the 2012-13 season. Chances are pretty fair that the Mavericks drop another game or two – or three to the other remaining opponents.

Playoffs?

Don’t think so.

• Published on 03/12/2016 at 23:27 PM
• Last updated at 03/12/2016 at 23:27 PM