3 teams the Dallas Mavericks must avoid in the first round of the playoffs

The Dallas Mavericks are in the midst of their most crucial juncture of the season, as they are currently the eighth seed in the Western Conference with 15 games remaining in the regular season. The Mavericks have picked up their intensity on both sides of the ball recently, and some changes in the rotation by Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd helped propel Dallas to a four-game winning streak before Thursday's loss to Oklahoma City.

This has put the Mavericks in a position to rise in the standings, as their hopes of getting out of play-in territory started to look bleak when the Mavericks lost five out of seven contests coming out of the All-Star break.

While the Mavericks have taken care of business lately, they haven't had the toughest strength of schedule. However, Dallas is set to have multiple matchups against top eight-seeded Western Conference opponents in their remaining 15 games, so we'll certainly start to get an idea of how competitive the Mavericks can be in the playoffs during this final stretch.

3 teams the Dallas Mavericks must avoid in the first round of the playoffs

The Mavericks must do everything in their power to escape play-in territory and get as far up in the standings as possible, as drawing any of the Western Conference's top teams could lead to an early exit for Dallas in the playoffs. With that being said, here are three teams the Mavericks need to avoid in the first round of the playoffs.

Honorable Mention: Minnesota Timberwolves

Despite currently sitting at third place in the Western Conference, the Minnesota Timberwolves are showing some vulnerability as they approach the playoffs. Timberwolves' big-man Karl-Anthony Towns recently underwent a procedure to repair a lateral meniscus tear in his left knee, an injury that will likely keep him out for the rest of the regular season as well as potentially some games during the playoffs.

However, the Timberwolves are extremely versatile from top to bottom, and they still maintain the best defensive rating in the NBA at 108.3. The Timberwolves are 2-2 ever since Karl-Anthony Towns got injured, but Anthony Edwards seems to have kicked himself into another gear on both sides of the ball ever since the Towns injury.

The Mavericks went 1-3 against Minnesota this season, but all four games that the two squads played against each other were before the trade deadline. Dallas has much better positional size and defense in their front-court now, so Minnesota may not be the worst matchup in round one when you take into consideration their lack of playoff experience as a group as well as the Towns injury.

The Mavericks can't make the make the mistake of underestimating Minnesota's stifling defense though, and would need to prepare thoroughly if they drew them as a matchup in the first round of the playoffs.

3. LA Clippers

The LA Clippers are no stranger to Luka Doncic and the Mavericks, as we all know the result of when Dallas faced off against the Clippers during the first round of the 2020 and 2021 NBA playoffs. This current Clippers team trumps those Clippers teams from a few years back in regards to their depth and consistency, so the Mavericks will need to do everything possible to avoid the current number four seed in the Western Conference.

The Clippers have a plethora of lengthy wings to throw at the likes of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, and they also have the ability to play small-ball against Dallas given their substantial amount of positional size. The Mavericks went 1-2 against the Clippers during the regular season, though Dallas' one win came shortly after the Clippers traded for James Harden at the beginning of the season in a game where it was clear that the Clippers still hadn't fully synchronized together on offense with their new piece at the time.

Harden is the wild card that the Clippers didn't have in past playoff matchups against Dallas, as he is the true stabilizer and initiator of the Clippers' offense, something they severely lacked the past few seasons. The Clippers playmaking and defense across the board gives them a ton of lineup variability that they can exercise during the playoffs, so no Western Conference team including the Mavericks should be signing up to play them in the first round.

Luckily the Clippers are currently the fourth seed, and there's a decent gap between them and seeds three and five in the West respectively, so Dallas doesn't project to match up with them in the first round as things currently stand unless they pass up the fifth-seeded Pelicans (currently 1.5 games behind).

2. Oklahoma City Thunder

After Dallas' 126-119 loss to the Thunder on Thursday evening, it's fairly easy to understand why the Mavericks can't take Oklahoma City's young roster lightly. Don't get it twisted, Dallas has their fairshare of matchup advantages against the Thunder when the Mavericks are fully healthy, but as we saw last night, the Thunder are extremely consistent and have an entourage of perimeter shooting and defense backing up the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams.

Dallas was without Luka Doncic last night, as the young superstar is dealing with a hamstring injury. The fact that Dallas stayed within striking distance of the Thunder without Doncic is commendable, in attacking but unfortunately there are no moral victories at this juncture of the season. Gilgeous-Alexander was unrelenting when he drew mismatches against Dallas defenders last night, as he is one of the only players in league whose pacing rivals that of Doncic on offense.

The Mavericks got a front row seat to just how multifaceted Oklahoma City's lineup is during last night's game, as nearly everyone in their main rotation can shoot, playmake, and defend behind Gilgeous-Alexander. Oklahoma City will be a tough matchup for anyone in the Western Conference in the first round, especially when you take into consideration that Jalen Williams and Holmgren have already ascended into number two and three options.

As we saw in Dallas' lone victory out of three games against the Thunder this season, the Mavericks have the ability to give Oklahoma City problems through their physicality on the interior. Dallas destroyed the Thunder in the paint in Dallas' first game after the trade deadline in which P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford both played, so it wouldn't be surprising if Dallas made a playoff series versus the Thunder a competitive one, especially if Doncic were healthy and Washington didn't shoot as abnormally bad from the field as he did last night.

However, last night definitely was a queue for Dallas to get out of eighth seed as a means to avoid playing the current number one seeded Thunder in the first round, as the Thunder are too deep and consistent across the board to be the idealistic round one matchup for Dallas.

1. Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets are the worst possible matchup for the Dallas Mavericks in the first round, and it's not by a particularly close margin. The Mavericks have lost both games that they've played against the Nuggets this year and worst of all, Dallas has looked completely out-talented in those contests.

The Nuggets are extremely dynamic on offense and run almost everything through their two time MVP in Nikola Jokic as we all know, and the Mavericks don't have any tailor-made solution toward stopping Jokic, as no other team in the league does either.

The Mavericks will have a tough time containing the Jamal Murray-Jokic pick-and-roll when you take into consideration that Denver has tremondous shooting, cutting, and positional size in the rest of their starting lineup with Michael Porter Jr., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Aaron Gordon. The incumbent NBA champions have built their roster to curate toward Jokic's play-style and it's led them toward being just as unstoppable as last year as the Nuggets appraoch the playoffs, even if the Nuggets have a little less offense off the bench compared to last year.

The Nuggets are wiry defensively across the board, so the Mavericks will need to look to exploit weak links within Denver's defense as much as possible if they end up facing off against each other in the first round. Nikola Jokic is one of the few superstars who may have a greater impact on his team's winning than Luka Doncic, so hopefully Kyrie Irving could be the third best player on the court in a Mavs-Nuggets series, as Dallas would almost certainly lose if it was Murray.

The Nuggets currently have the second seed in the Western Conference, only trailing the Oklahoma City Thunder, so Dallas should look to avoid landing in seeds seven or eight as Denver will likely finish as the first or second seed in the conference.

Dallas has a chance to get another bite at the apple against Denver on Sunday afternoon in one of the biggest games of the season for Dallas thus far, so stay tuned with us as we'll have you covered leading up to the Mavericks next game.