NBA Play-In Scenarios: How Mavs Can Still Make Postseason With 3 Games Left

The Dallas Mavericks have been trending in the wrong direction since February, but somehow, some way, they sill have a slim shot of making the NBA's play-in tournament if they can take care of business in the final three games of the season.

Dalton Trigg | Apr 4, 2023

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Dallas Mavericks

Before this season began, many critics believed the Dallas Mavericks would take a step back in the Western Conference after losing Jalen Brunson to the New York Knicks in free agency. Those predictions ended up being correct, but even the toughest of critics couldn't have seen the Mavs not even qualifying for the NBA's play-in tournament – especially with Luka Doncic putting up MVP-like numbers.

With three games remaining, that's what the Mavs are facing, as they're one game behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for the final play-in spot in the West while also not owning the tiebreaker against them. They're also two games behind the Minnesota Timberwolves and 3.5 games behind the New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers.

The Mavs finish out the schedule with three home games against the Sacramento Kings, Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs. Here's what will need to happen if the Mavs want to make the postseason.

Win-Out Scenarios

Mavs finish 3-0, Thunder finish 1-2
Mavs finish 3-0, Timberwolves finish 0-3
Mavs finish 3-0, Lakers finish 0-4
Mavs finish 3-0, Pelicans finish 0-4

One-Loss Scenarios

Mavs finish 2-1, Thunder finish 0-3

It is quite literally do-or-die time for the Mavs. They've lost seven of their last eight games, so there's no reason to expect them to all of a sudden win two or three of their final three games, but the Mavs did show some pride in Atlanta on Sunday night, and they'll be returning home for the first time since March 24.

Here's how the remaining schedules look for the four play-in teams ahead of the Mavs:

Thunder: at Warriors, at Jazz, vs. Grizzlies

Timberwolves: at Nets, at Spurs, vs Pelicans

Pelicans: vs. Kings, vs. Grizzlies, vs. Knicks, at Timberwolves

Lakers: at Jazz, at Clippers, vs. Suns, vs. Jazz

Dallas has two full days off before taking on the Kings at American Airlines Center on Wednesday. Let the scoreboard watching commence!

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Published Apr 4, 2023

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.