Ranking the Mavericks' potential playoff opponents from piece of cake to nightmare

5. New Orleans Pelicans

The New Orleans Pelicans are the Dallas Mavericks' most likely matchup of any of the previously listed teams, and they may be a tougher matchup than many people think.

The Pelicans are 45-29 on the year with their most recent game being a loss to the Boston Celtics, and this would be a fun series between the two Southwest Division rivals. The Mavs would have their hands full with trying to stop Zion Williamson inside, but they have multiple different defenders who they could use to try to slow him down.

Both P.J. Washington and Maxi Kleber have done a good job while guarding bigger forwards this season, and having Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford as their backline of defense would help as well.

Defensively, the Pelicans have one of the best all-around defenders in the NBA in Herb Jones. They would undoubtedly use him to try to stop Luka Doncic, but outside of Jones, they don't have many other elite stoppers.

It also works in the Mavs' favor that Brandon Ingram is missing some time with an injury, and they would be able to fully focus on stopping CJ McCollum and Williamson. Forcing New Orleans' role players to beat the Mavs may be the perfect game plan.

Jonas Valanciunas can be hard to stop in the post sometimes, but Dallas has the personnel to make things hard on him.