The Dallas Mavericks got blown out by the LA Clippers on Friday night, as Dallas rested both Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II en route to a 114-91 loss on the first night of a back-to-back. This game didn't matter too much from a standings perspective, considering the Mavericks are playing the Clippers once again this evening and have the opportunity to redeem themselves with a boost to their lineup in the form of Davis and Lively II returning.
However, the Sacramento Kings did make up some ground by defeating the Charlotte Hornets yesterday, and Dallas' lead for the ninth seed in the West is now only a half-game. The Mavericks need to cash in tonight versus LA since they elected to rest two of the bigs in the first contest, as Dallas' odds of beating the Kings in their first play-in game are astronomically worse if they have to play them on the road instead of at home.
The Mavericks aren't projected to make any real noise in the playoffs this season, given their disastrous injury whirlpool over the past couple of months and Kyrie Irving's torn ACL, causing them to slip so far in the standings. If Dallas makes the playoffs upon winning two straight play-in games, they'll be gifted with getting to play the West's first-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, who are uber-talented and would be hungry to knock out a Mavericks team that bounced them from the playoffs last season.
Mavericks' perimeter defense will doom them in playoffs
Any win the Mavericks get in this series would likely come because of their size advantage and OKC simply not being able to match Dallas' personnel and playstyle, especially since there isn't a lot of tape on Dallas' new bigs playing together. Dallas' increased size very well could be something that hurts them in that potential series as well, though, as it could affect their perimeter defense and its effectiveness.
The Mavericks struggled tremendously to stay with the Brooklyn Nets' guards and wings in a recent loss on Monday, and this was the first game that both Davis and Daniel Gafford shared the court together since Davis' Mavs debut.
Dallas gave up 20 made 3-pointers to an undermanned Nets team in this contest, and it was an abysmal showing of lackluster defensive rotations from nearly everyone guarding on the perimeter for Dallas. Caleb Martin galvanized Dallas' perimeter defense a little bit in the Mavericks' victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, but Dallas simply doesn't have enough perimeter defense to compensate for playing two bigs on the floor at once in a potential playoff series.
The Mavericks don't have enough elite point-of-attack defense at the moment, which could become an issue if Davis can't guard whichever wing is playing the four spot in OKC's lineup for consistent stretches. Who knows what kind of chess match fans could see between OKC head coach Mark Daigneault and Jason Kidd in terms of matching size-for-size with certain lineups, but the Thunder could definitely expose the Mavericks with their drive-and-kick ability if they throw a smaller lineup at one of Dallas' bigger lineups.
It's not like we have a ton of data to analyze in terms of the effectiveness of Dallas' two-big lineups from a defensive standpoint at this juncture in the season, and while Dallas' rim protection will obviously be stellar regardless of who they play, rosters built like Dallas' will face obvious challenges in terms of making a deep playoff run if they can't improve their perimeter defense this summer.
Brandon Williams (if he gets signed on April 10), Caleb Martin, and Max Christie are projected to be Dallas' only solid defenders who have the foot speed to consistently guard point guards and shooting guards in the playoffs, with Williams primarily only being able to anchor down on point guards because of his lack of size.
Dallas' new identity has been formulated around their ability to play one of the most tantalizing lineups in the entire NBA from a rim protection standpoint, but this could obviously hurt their perimeter defense in these playoffs, especially against a Thunder squad that boasts some of the best ball handling shot creation, and playmaking in the entire league.
