Nick Wright: Luka Doncic's Mavs Still 'Terrifying' Playoff Matchup Despite Struggles

Although the Dallas Mavericks have lost five out of their last six games, FS1's Nick Wright still believes Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving's squad could be a "terrifying" playoff matchup for whoever they might face.
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Despite the Dallas Mavericks falling on hard times by losing five out of their last six games heading into Thursday's game against the Miami Heat, that hasn't deterred some analysts from viewing them as a serious playoff threat.

On a recent episode of FS1's First Things First, Nick Wright separated NBA contenders into several different tiers, and the Mavs fell into the "Terrifying... For A Series Or Two" tier alongside LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.

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"Terrifying for a series or two... LeBron, Luka, AD, Kyrie... Both of these teams for a week, for two weeks, for a month, even... can look awesome," Wright said. "And you can feel like, 'man, they have the best player on the court. They might have the best duo on the court.' Can either of these teams win three straight series, let alone four straight series? The Lakers with their rotations and the lack of defense at time and the coaching. The Mavs with just an outright allergy to defense lately. The answer is probably not, but you don't want to see them across from you in the bracket at any point."

The Mavs haven't been right since seeing their seven-game win streak snapped by the Indiana Pacers two weeks ago. Given that there's a six-game gap between the Mavs and current the No. 11 seed Utah Jazz with just 20 games left, there's a good chance that Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and company will at the very least make the Play-In Tournament.

Luka Doncic's Mavs Seek Get Right Game Against Surging Heat

However, if they can get their act together, the Mavs could still climb into the No. 5 or No. 6 seed. Dallas trails the current fifth-place New Orleans Pelicans by three games while having a tie in the regular-season head-to-head, and it trails the current sixth-place Phoenix Suns, who have the hardest remaining schedule in the league, by just two games while also owning the regular-season tiebreaker.

Doncic, Irving and the Mavs have all the pieces to be a "terrifying" playoff matchup for any opposing team, as Wright mentioned, but they must find a way to break out of their funk if they want to have the chance to prove him right.


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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.