By The Dallas Mavericks saw their season-high seven-game win streak end on Sunday night with a blowout loss to the Indiana Pacers to start a tough four-game road trip, but that wasn’t enough to knock them down in NBA.com’s latest power rankings.
On Monday’s rankings, the Mavs remained at No. 7 with huge road matchups against the No. 6 Cleveland Cavaliers and No. 1 Boston Celtics coming in two of their next three games.
Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
“Since [Kyrie] Irving’s return (and the start of the winning streak), the Mavs have outscored their opponents by an incredible 20.7 points per 100 possessions in 215 minutes with him and Luka Doncic on the floor together,” John Schuhmann wrote.
“They’re now 19-11 when both have been available and have been much better in 722 total minutes with both on the floor (plus-9.0 per 100) than they’ve been in 1,575 minutes with one on the floor without the other (plus-0.2 per 100). Interestingly, the difference has been almost entirely about defense (110.8 vs. 119.5 allowed per 100).”
Not only was the Mavs loss to the Pacers the first of a four-game road trip, but it was also the start of a nine-game stretch where they’ll only face Eastern Conference teams. Given that Dallas has a 12-6 record against the East, perhaps it can get back on track in Cleveland on Tuesday night, avenging a meltdown loss that happened at American Airlines Center on Dec. 27.
“A lot of teams are coming after us,” Kyrie Irving said after Sunday’s loss. “You kind of see the media calling us legitimate contenders. I don’t think it’s our time right now to be listening to all that noise. We just have to focus on one game at a time and get ready for what’s ahead of us.”
