Mavs Stat of the Week: Will Dallas Losing to Bad Teams Cost Them Homecourt?

As the Dallas Mavericks progress through the 2021-22 season, DallasBasketball.com picks yet another weekly stat that tells the story of how the team is performing.

Regardless of a team’s record, every NBA game is a challenge. Despite the understandable notion that some teams allow walk-in-the-park contests, the NBA is a professional league. For a prime example, look no further than the Dallas Mavericks' recent stretch where they lost against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Orlando Magic.

Nothing wheel-inventing there, but beating the bad teams - or taking care of business, if you will - is indicative of a legitimate playoff team. Although the Mavs have a history of fumbling games vs. lesser-talented squads, including this recent stretch they’re on, it's not as dire this season as one might think. 

As part of DallasBasketball.com's weekly exercise, we found a stat that hones in on this particular discourse surrounding the Mavs. 

Record vs. Below .500 Teams: 16-7

Losing to subpar teams rightfully invokes frustration, because at the end of the regular season, playoff seeding can be impacted by dropping games to the Magic or the Thunder. At this point, though, the Mavs can only move on to the next contest and attempt to do better. 

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Jerome Miron/USA Today Sports

Luka Doncic scored 40 points in a losing effort against a lottery team without their best player, and that sits terribly on most fans' pallets. But not all is not lost.

The Mavs hold a 16-7 record vs. teams with a record below .500, and that could have easily been 19-4 had Dallas been able to pay more attention to detail in close losses to the Kings, Magic and Thunder in the last five weeks.

Again, without excusing the disappointing losses altogether, this kind of stuff tends to happen throughout the course of an 82-game season.

Thankfully for the Mavs, this kind of disappointment hasn’t been happening at an alarming rate. Will losing these recent games cost them the home-court advantage in the first round? 

That is a very possible outcome, but don't get too caught in the moment, as the numbers speak in the Mavs' favor so far.