Playoff update: Mavs’ chances require hard play, wins and help

Three games. Seven days. Hours upon hours of wondering how the Mavericks got themselves in this situation.

That’s what’s left for this season.

Nosediving from the Western Conference finals in 2022 to the NBA draft lottery in 2023 seemed laughable back in October when this 82-game grind began.

Nobody’s laughing now.

The Mavericks fell to 37-42 with their 132-130 overtime loss on Sunday at Atlanta. It was their third consecutive loss and seventh in the past eight games.

And while it didn’t shut the door on any hope of catching lightning in a bottle in the postseason, it closed the sliver of opportunity to the tiniest of cracks.

Even if the Mavericks win their final three home games and finish 40-42, they would need two losses in the final three by the Oklahoma City Thunder to squeak into the play-in tournament as the No. 10 team in the Western Conference.

Go back to those back-to-back losses against Charlotte if you want to see exactly where this thing went haywire.

Still, if you’re a glass-half-full type, the Thunder has a much tougher schedule in the final week – road games at Golden State and Utah and a home finale against Memphis.

But even though Phoenix beat OKC on Sunday (another opportunity lost for the Mavericks to gain ground), it still means that one win from the Thunder will require the Mavericks to sweep their remaining schedule to get to No. 10.

And then, of course, they still would have to win twice in the play-in tournament to make the actual playoffs.

Tough, tough assignment.

But this is sports. This is unpredictable. As bleak as things look for the Mavericks, we’ve seen crazy stuff happen before.

If the Mavericks continue to play hard – and the Miami and Atlanta games over the weekend were aggressively played, the Mavericks just weren’t sharp enough – they can win these last three games.

Then, let the chips fall where they may.

Here’s the updated race for spots four through 12 in the Western Conference, with games-behind and each team’s remaining schedule.

4. Phoenix, 43-35, —————- SA, Den, @LAL, LAC.
5. LA Clippers, 41-38, 2½, —— LAL, Port, @Phx.
6. Golden State, 41-38, 2½, —– OKC, @Sac, @Port.

——————————————————————————-

7. LA Lakers, 40-38, 3, ———– @Utah, @LAC, Phx, Utah.
8. New Orleans, 40-38, 3, ——- Sac, Mem, NY, @Minn.
9. Minnesota, 39-40, 4½, ——– @Brook, @SA, NO.
10. Oklahoma City, 38-41, 5½, — @GS, @Utah, Mem.

——————————————————————————-

11. Dallas, 37-42, 6½, ———— Sac, Chi, SA.
12. Utah, 36-42, 7, —————- LAL, OKC, Den, @LAL.

Twitter: @ESefko