Sixty games into the NBA season, it’s become clear that the Mavericks are, at the least, going to be playing beyond the end of the 82-game grind.
The Western Conference has 10 teams that are above .500 and have separated themselves from the bottom five.
Six of those teams will qualify for the playoffs. The teams that end up seventh through 10th will conduct the play-in tournament with the two survivors filling the seventh and eighth seeds in the West.
Right now, the Mavericks are ninth with a 32-28 record.
They sidestepped a land mine on Thursday with a 103-96 victory over Charlotte in the opener of a three-game home stand.
So after a regular season that has seen an unfair amount of injuries, particularly to their centers, and the trade of a megastar as well as a rare season when the Mavericks will have 42 road games and only 40 at home, they are what they are – at least in the eyes of Kyrie Irving.
“God willing, we get healthy at the right time,” he said. “The way I feel about this team – I don’t want to say it’s similar to when we first started because we have a little different squad – but it’s the belief in each other, belief in our coaching staff, belief that guys can grow here, not just as thinkers on the court, but leaders in the locker room.
“It feels good that we can talk to each other about the little things and be honest about where we are in the season and try to put our best foot forward. Being very patient with where we are now, we have to put the aggression out there against our opponent and set ourselves up to try to crack that top six, top five and get some good playoff positioning. We know it’s going to be a tall task for us.”
Avoiding the play-in tournament 
is the key goal. The Mavericks aren’t going to be able to catch one of the top four teams to earn a home-court advantage in the playoffs. But we learned last season that this is not a team that needs to play at home to be salty in the playoffs.
But reaching No. 6, currently occupied by the Los Angeles Clippers, is a realistic goal. The Clippers are 32-26, having two fewer losses than the Mavericks. Teams from 6-10 are going to change on a daily basis. Four of them have 32 wins as of today. Three of them have 28 losses.
Now, more than ever during this season, every game truly matters.
“You just got to be mature about it and feel good as much as we can every single game, whoever’s in the lineup,” Irving said. “The ups and downs have come and gone, but I think what’s remained consistent is our mentality toward every game, just making sure that even when we’re not playing at our best we can hold each other accountable to get the best out of each other.”
That will be a requirement in the coming days. The Mavericks have four games upcoming against rugged competition: Milwaukee twice, Memphis and Sacramento. The Kings are one of the teams they are battling for spots 6-10.
It’s unknown whether any of their injured players will return before this stretch ends. Anthony Davis (left adductor) is making progress but has not been cleared for contact. Daniel Gafford (right knee) is in a similar boat. Dereck Lively II (right ankle stress fracture) was still in a walking boot while on the bench during Thursday’s game. Caleb Martin (hip) has yet to make his Mavericks’ debut, although that may not be far away.
The Mavericks need those bodies. But there are no guarantees, as coach Jason Kidd has said.
Here’s a few of our takeaways from the win over the Hornets:
Dodging the trap game: The Mavericks are human. They saw that Charlotte had lost its last three games by an average of more than 43 points. And the Mavs were coming off hard losses at Golden State and the Los Angeles Lakers in the Luka game. It could have been a rugged 
situation. And it was: “Tonight was definitely one of those games where it could have been a setup, where we played two emotional games at Golden State, LA. Coming back home, you could feel the energy wasn’t at an all-time high going into halftime,” Irving said. “We had some newfound energy that we mustered up and we just had to finish this game strong.” The Mavericks did so, breaking free from a tie at 85 to close the game.
Moses led them: The Mavericks got 20 points and 11 rebounds from Moses Brown, his fifth career double-double and the first time in two stints that he’s had one with the Mavericks. “I just want to be an anchor on defense,” he said. “Sometimes defense creates offense. Coming out of the first half, that was an example of it.”
Strong numbers: In the latest example that there is more to basketball than shooting, Naji Marshall was 1-of-11 from the floor but the Mavericks were plus-eight when he was on the floor, thanks to nine rebounds and six assists . . . The Mavericks had only nine turnovers for nine Charlotte points. The Hornets turned it over 15 times (12 on Maverick steals) and the Mavericks turned those miscues into 20 points off turnovers.
X: @ESefko
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