Why the playoffs are suddenly a possibility for the Dallas Mavericks

With more than just four and a half months left, could the Dallas Mavericks be in contention for the final eight seed in the Western Conference?

Going into Monday, the Dallas Mavericks came into the day holding the worst record in the Western Conference. At 7-20 the Mavs season may seem as though it might be over, but numbers prove that there is still a lot of basketball left to play.

As the standings hold, the Dallas team are just six games back from the final eight spot in the West. With just a win of one or two games, Dirk Nowtizki and company could easily find themselves bumped up by three more spots.

Currently, the Phoenix Sun, Sacramento Kings and Memphis Grizzlies all stand just one game ahead of Dallas. If one were to look even deeper into the standings, Dirk and Co. are just three and a half games back from the Los Angeles Clippers and four from the Los Angeles Lakers.

Only, the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder remain tied atop the West for the eight and final spot. As mentioned, the Dallas Mavericks are just six games from the playoffs and with plenty of months left to play, this NBA season nothing is over yet till the whistler blows on April 13th, the final day of the season.

Why there is realistic playoff hope for Dallas?

Over the past five games, the Dallas Mavericks seemed anything but good. At the beginning of the month, the Mavs beat out the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets by a margin of 15 or more points.

While it not seem like a major deal, one of those teams, the Nuggets, had a winning record at 14-11. However after beating out the West, the team dropped games to two of the top Eastern Conference contenders in the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks. Both games were heavily contested and Dallas lost by a margin of seven points. The losing streak continued to grow for Dallas as they lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves Sunday night, 97 to 92.

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While the beginning of December looked as though the team was somewhat on the right path, November proved to be a solid month for Dallas. On November 18th, the Mavs wiped out the Bucks by beating them 111 to 79. That was not the team’s only wipe out as on November 25th, the team won heavily 97-81 against Russell Westbrook and the Thunder.

The Dallas Mavericks started the season one and 10, but over the past month and a half it appears the team may have found some new life and may be only getting better.

If rumors hold true, guards Seth Curry and Dorian Finney-Smith could make their way into the Dallas lineup sometime this month.

This would not only give the team an offensive threat in Curry, but a two way guard in Finney-Smith who could help provide some defensive help off the bench. With the trade deadline just months away, the team could be players as owner Mark Cuban has proved in the past to make some surprising deals.

Next: Nerlens Noel and what his injury means for the future

So with the team starting to win games here and there and the return of valuable role players the playoffs may not be a long shot for Dallas after all.

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