Predict the Mavs Record to End the Season

[SleepingHero]

With the All-Star break now over, I figured now would a good discussion over the Mavs end of season goals. I'm stealing from the Discord here cause it was just too good to pass up.

According to several prediction websites, Mavs are pegged to have the easiest remaining strength of schedule. 538 thinks the Mavs end 3rd, BBref has the Mavs 5th. 

There are 12 home games, 10 road games, 5 games against the Spurs and Hornets, on top of a 6 game home-stand coming out of the All-Star Break with a 3 game home-stand to end the season.

There are 3 B2B's left, with all of the second nights ending with a road game (@NOP 3/9, @IND 3/27, and @ATL 4/2). 

So what do you guys think the record will be? What are some of the hardest games? Do you think Luka taking the week off in Cabo will help rejuvenate him or is he going to play himself into shape heading into the playoffs? Does Maxi's return help the defense become serious again?

To lead it off, as much as I want to say 18+ wins I still think this team is going to have some growing pains after the break. I think the 2nd night of back to backs, especially on the road, are scheduled losses so that's 3 of them right there. 

The toughest games to me is PHI on March 2nd, PHX on March 5th , the MEM mini series where we play them 3 times in 9 days (@MEM 3/11, @DAL 3/13, @MEM 3/20), GSW on March 22nd, @PHI 3/29, and finally vs. SAC on 4/5. 
If the Mavs can go 5-3 on this stretch that'd be great. 

Tallying up what we have so far with the B2Bs and assuming they go 5-0 against the Spurs+Hornets, we're at 10-6.  That means I'm hoping they can go 5-1 against the new look Lakers (2 times), IND (2 times), ATL and CHI. 

Definitely interesting to see how this plays out.

[Jason Terry]

Hopefully we come out with a sense of urgency. The 6 game home stand to begin is key. 4-2 or better would be a good start. I think those Memphis games will be key. Should be plenty of wins against tanking teams to end the season. 3rd would be ideal. My guess is we end up in the 4/5 matchup

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Tough prediction. Although you can easily assume wins vs bottom-feeders, sometimes it doesn't work that way. The main thing to me is, how do they play against the better teams.

[ItsGoTime]

One of my ways to see if this is gonna be a good playoff team is to watch to see the win and loss streaks. A win streak is hard to keep going so I look for more than 3 game win streaks. Losses make it easier to get up for the next game, I look for no more than 2 game loss streaks. If we can avoid a 3 game skid and get at least a 4 game win streak, this team should be prepared to go in the playoffs.

[SleepingHero]

Interesting everyone is falling between 12-16 wins. 

The range is kind of large so I'm gonna make a new poll and see if we can narrow it down a bit and hopefully get some explanations.

[Hypermav]

22-0  First in the West.

[Mavs2021]

13-9/14-8, schedule has some pretty soft games on it. I think the Lakers games are pretty huge. Lose them both and you could be in trouble.

[SleepingHero]

13-9/14-8, schedule has some pretty soft games on it. I think the Lakers games are pretty huge. Lose them both and you could be in trouble.

I can see things getting pretty chaotic if they lose even 1 of the Laker games. I didn't want to peg them as must-wins, but they're pretty damn close to it.

Provided they go 5-0 against the teams that are trying to lose in Spurs and Hornets, that means you expect them to play around .500 ball.

Given how they've played this entire season it's not unreasonable to think that unfortunately.

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

It's going to be tough but they'll find a way to finish 82-0

[The Jom]

This is a much better team. The 2 seed is in reach. I’m gonna go with a very optimistic 49 Ws.