5 Things Dallas Mavericks fans should root for, 5 to root against to close season

9. Against: The Denver Nuggets grabbing the No. 1 seed

As things stand now, the Denver Nuggets are just one game back from the Oklahoma City Thunder and the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

How does this relate to the Dallas Mavericks you may ask?

The Mavs are currently the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference as they have a 45-30 record, and if they continue to play at an elite level, they'll likely be the No. 4 or 5 seed and play the LA Clippers. While the Clippers will be a hard matchup of their own, looking ahead, the Mavs would play the winner of the series between the No. 1 and 8 seeds.

Avoiding the Nuggets until the Western Conference Finals could be big for the Mavs, as they seem to be the biggest thing standing in Dallas' way from making an NBA Finals run. The Nuggets are undoubtedly the best team in the Western Conference, and playing the Thunder in the second round rather than the Nuggets would work in the Mavs' favor. The Nuggets have even been ruled a "nightmare matchup" for the Mavs.

At this point of the season, you can only control what you can control, but avoiding the Nuggets for as long as possible is ideal. This isn't to say that the Thunder would be an easy matchup, but Dallas matches up much better with Oklahoma City on paper than Denver.