Mavs-Pacers primer: ‘Each game means something’ as home stand rolls on

If you saw the NBA standings in early January, you would have seen that the season had reached the midpoint and the Indiana Pacers were five games above .500 and in the conversation among surprise Eastern Conference playoff contenders.

Things have changed a bit since then.

At least, they have in the East.

In the West, the more things change, the more they stay the same with 75 percent of the conference tightly stacked in a race that will feature some teams getting home-court advantages in the first round of the playoffs and others missing even the play-in tournament.

And there might not be many games separating those teams when it’s all done.

“I haven’t paid attention to the standings,” Jason Kidd said Monday. “I know it’s all bunched up. We’re sixth. Each game means something, which is important to understand what’s at stake. But you just got to take one game at a time.

“We got a home stand, understand to protect home. You can’t worry about the other games being played. You can only control what’s in front of you and that’s what we’re focused on.”

On Tuesday, the Pacers of Rick Carlisle will be in front of the Mavericks as they enter the final 20 games of the season. With only one-quarter of the season left, it’s probably too late to pencil in anybody as a favorite to come out of the convoluted pack behind Denver and Memphis in the West.

Starting with third-place Sacramento and going down to 13^th-place Oklahoma City, the West is a mess. Only two games in the loss column separate the No. 5 LA Clippers from the No. 13 Thunder.

Just accept the fact that it’s a wild dash for the next six weeks to sort it all out. And when the Pacers visit on Tuesday, the Mavericks can’t ill-afford a misstep.

And the Pacers are not to be taken lightly. They have won two of three and the loss was in overtime to East powerhouse Boston. Tyrese Haliburton is averaging 19.8 points and 10.2 assists and had 14 dishes in the 13-point win at Orlando that started this four-game trip on Saturday.

“Rick’s doing an incredible job, he’s one of the best coaches in this league,” Kidd said of the former Mavericks’ head coach. “And they have a young group over there that plays hard.

“They’ve had some big wins. They’re dangerous. They’re a team that can score, puts a lot of pressure your defense. Buddy Hield and (Myles) Turner and those guys, they also have a rookie who’s not playing like a rookie. Our defense will be tested.”

Speaking of that rookie, here’s a few other things to watch for Tuesday.

• The Pacers rely heavily on rookie Bennedict Mathurin, who was born in Montreal, went to high school in Mexico and starred two seasons at Arizona before being the No. 6 overall pick in the 2022 draft. He’s averaging 17.3 points in 28.3 minutes per game.
• On Jan. 10, the Pacers were 23-18 and solidly in the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference. However, they have gone just 4-17 since. That started with a seven-game losing streak and coincided with the loss of All-Star Haliburton, who has been a cornerstone since joining the Pacers in the trade that sent Domantas Sabonis to Sacramento.
• The Mavericks now are 20-11 at American Airlines Center and with four more games left on this home stand, this would be a wonderful time to get a little sizzle going at AAC. They will have no shortage of motivation after blowing the 27-point lead Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers in a 111-108 loss.
• Somehow, the Mavericks have to get a better grip on the rebounding department. They had a solid first half against the Lakers in that regard, winning the board battle 31-26. Not coincidentally, they were ahead by 14 points. In the second half, they were slammed on the glass 30-17 and that was the root of their problem in losing the big lead.
• Luka Doncic is coming off a 4-of-8 three-point shooting game against the Lakers as the Mavericks hit 20-of-49 from beyond the arc (40.8 percent). Yet it did not manifest itself in a victory in a game when the Lakers hit just six three-pointers.

INDIANA PACERS (27-35) at DALLAS MAVERICKS (32-30)

• When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
• Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas.
• TV: BALLY’S SPORTS SOUTHWEST.
• Radio:1 FM, 99.1 FM Zona MX (Spanish).

Twitter: @ESefko