Not Satisfied: Will Doncic, Mavs Pass Warriors in West Standings?

The Dallas Mavericks have put themselves in a favorable position with just seven games remaining in the NBA regular season.

Dalton Trigg | Mar 28, 2022

Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks (46-29) are feeling good after defeating the Utah Jazz (45-30) on Sunday night to take hold of the fourth seed in the Western Conference.

“I think you learn this as the years go on,” said Doncic about his team being able to come up big in important games. “But obviously some games you are not going to do good as you want. You’re really motivated, you want to give your best on every possession, and you just play basketball. That’s the best way to play basketball.”

With seven games remaining, the Mavs are now focused on catching the Golden State Warriors (48-27), who currently occupy the third seed in the West. Given that the Warriors’ upcoming schedule brutal, and the fact that they won’t have Steph Curry back for at least another week, the Mavs could potentially jump into third place as early as Wednesday night if everything breaks the right way.

On today’s episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, host Dalton Trigg breaks down the Mavs’ big win over the Jazz, including Doncic’s big night, Reggie Bullock having arguably his best game of the season, and Dallas’ perimeter defense shutting down Donovan Mitchell.

From there, Trigg previews the Mavs’ matchup against the struggling Los Angeles Lakers (31-43). With both LeBron James and Anthony Davis listed as doubtful on the injury report, Dallas should be able to reduce its magic number — which is the amount of Mavs wins or Minnesota Timberwolves (43-33) losses needed to clinch a playoff spot — to two.

LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers, Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks — Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers — Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Also, what’s the deal with certain analysts trying to discredit how good Doncic has been this season? A rant on that, Doncic’s MVP candidacy and much more is included in today’s show.

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Published Mar 28, 2022

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.