March. Badness.
With the way they’ve pratfalled against pitiful competition this month, at this point the Mavs would be lucky to get a berth in the NIT.
This, as I’ve written before, was their chance to secure the No. 6 seed in the West and avoid playing the Warriors or Spurs in the first round of the playoffs. Over 10 games, they played nine at home – with only one back-to-back – and faced mostly a litany of opponents headed for the NBA Lottery.
They needed to go, at worst, 8-2. Instead, can you believe 4-6? Including their first five-game losing streak since 2012 after home losses to the Kings, Pistons and Pacers. Yuck.
“Right now, it feels like everything we’re doing is wrong and nothing is working,” said forward Chandler Parsons. “We can’t beat anybody right.”
Bottom line: With a chance to nail down No. 6, the Mavs instead fell to No. 8. And plummeted to .500 at 33-33. Worse? Now comes the hard part.
Monday night they’re in Charlotte to play a Hornets team that’s nine games over .500. After that it’s a trip at East-leading Cleveland, then four games against the Warriors and Blazers. The Mavs won’t face a team with a losing record until the end of the month.
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By then I’m betting their out of the playoffs, lamenting the opportunity they wasted this month.
A native Texan who was born in Duncanville and graduated from UT-Arlington, Richie Whitt has been a mainstay in the Metroplex media since 1986. He’s held prominent roles on all media platforms including newspaper (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), radio (105.3 The Fan) and TV (co-host on TXA 21 and numerous guest appearances, including NBC 5). He lives in McKinney with his wife, Sybil, and two very spoiled dogs.
