Dallas Basketball

Mavs Remain in NBA Power Rankings Top 10: 'Teams Coming After Us,' Says Kyrie Irving

The Dallas Mavericks stayed put in their top-10 spot on NBA.com's power rankings list this week, but they'll have a chance to climb with big games coming up against teams that are ahead of them in the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics.

Dalton Trigg

Mavs Remain in NBA Power Rankings Top 10: 'Teams Coming After Us,' Says Kyrie Irving
Mavs Remain in NBA Power Rankings Top 10: 'Teams Coming After Us,' Says Kyrie Irving /
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The Dallas Mavericks saw their season-high seven-game win streak end on Sunday night with a blowout loss to the Indiana Pacers to start a tough four-game road trip, but that wasn't enough to knock them down in NBA.com's latest power rankings.

On Monday's rankings, the Mavs remained at No. 7 with huge road matchups against the No. 6 Cleveland Cavaliers and No. 1 Boston Celtics coming in two of their next three games.

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Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

"Since [Kyrie] Irving’s return (and the start of the winning streak), the Mavs have outscored their opponents by an incredible 20.7 points per 100 possessions in 215 minutes with him and Luka Doncic on the floor together," John Schuhmann wrote.

"They’re now 19-11 when both have been available and have been much better in 722 total minutes with both on the floor (plus-9.0 per 100) than they’ve been in 1,575 minutes with one on the floor without the other (plus-0.2 per 100). Interestingly, the difference has been almost entirely about defense (110.8 vs. 119.5 allowed per 100)."

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Not only was the Mavs loss to the Pacers the first of a four-game road trip, but it was also the start of a nine-game stretch where they'll only face Eastern Conference teams. Given that Dallas has a 12-6 record against the East, perhaps it can get back on track in Cleveland on Tuesday night, avenging a meltdown loss that happened at American Airlines Center on Dec. 27.

"A lot of teams are coming after us," Kyrie Irving said after Sunday's loss. "You kind of see the media calling us legitimate contenders. I don't think it's our time right now to be listening to all that noise. We just have to focus on one game at a time and get ready for what's ahead of us."

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Dalton Trigg
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.

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