19-Feb   @Orl – (Loss)

20-Feb   Mia – (Win)

22-Feb   Ind – (Win)

24-Feb   LAL – (Loss)

26-Feb   @Atl – (Win)

28-Feb   NO – (Win)

1-Mar    @Char – (Win)

3-Mar    Min – (Win)

5-Mar    Sac – (Win)

6-Mar    @Chi – (Loss)

8-Mar    @Min – (Win)

10-Mar   NJ – (Win)

13-Mar   NY – (Win)

17-Mar   Chi – (Win)

20-Mar   Bos – (Loss)

22-Mar   @NO – (Loss)

23-Mar   LAC – (Win)

25-Mar   @Port – (Loss)

27-Mar   @GS – (Win)

29-Mar   Den – (Loss)

31-Mar   @Mem – (Win)

1-Apr     Orl – (Win)

3-Apr     OKC – (Win)

7-Apr     Mem – (Win)

9-Apr     Port – (Loss)

10-Apr   @Sac – (Win)

12-Apr   @LAC – (Win)

14-Apr   SA – (Loss)

Well if the Mavericks need to play catch-up and work their way to home court advantage in the playoffs the 3rd part of their season is a good time to do it!  With 11 games against the Eastern Conference they should be able to piece together quite a few wins!  My bold predictions have the < href="http://nba.com/mavericks>Mavericks; going 19-9 to close out the regular season which would lead them with a record of 54-28 which should be enough to have them in the top 5 of the Western Conference which sounds about right to me… I would certainly take it!!!

The idea of losing the best player for the Mavericks to an injury that occurred in the midst of a game that means absolutely nothing to the team would be heartbreaking.  Can you imagine the outburst of Lakers fans if Kobe Bryant blew out a knee in the Summer Olympics?  Or how about Orlando Magic fans if Dwight Howard broke his ankle in a pick-up game?  They would be furious to say the least!  As Dallas Mavericks fans we must recognize that Cuban is looking out for the best interest of his team.  That means keeping Dirk as healthy as possible.

Dirk has shown in the past that his ankles are a tad bit fragile.  It doesn’t take much to turn, sprain or even break an ankle in basketball as the whole art of jumping and landing can be quite dangerous to the lower extremeties!  If Dirk landed on some guy named Gunther’s size 12 Pro Wing and broke his ankle it would be traumatic!  The whole city of Dallas might declare war on Germany and something tells me that wouldn’t work out well for Dallas… no matter how many shotgun wielding, rednecks might inhabit the city!  I can just see it now, a pick-up truck full of Jeds, Jethros & Billy Bobs vs a tank full of Wolfgangs, Adolphs & Boris.  Ok, I am done being rather stereotypical as most people in Dallas aren’t cowboys, rednecks, or jethros and most Germans… well they don’t drive tanks I suppose.  Nonetheless it’s a rather good thing that Dirk isn’t playing this summer for Germany.  Kudos to Mark Cuban for making it so.