But then there are those middle ground teams. Their seasons have not been as wobbly as those struggling to make it into the playoffs nor do they belong in the upper half of the standings. Instead, they fit right smack in the center of everything.
Middle-of-the-pack squads are not as dangerous as the top-tier clubs who enjoy the best records of their respective conferences. They’re not the Philadelphia 76ers or Brooklyn Nets of the East or the West’s Utah Jazz or Phoenix Suns. Even the Milwaukee Bucks, LA Clippers, and Denver Nuggets belong in that group as the best teams of the regular season.
As the focus shifts towards the play-in tourney and subsequently the playoffs, let’s shine the light on two teams who are excelling in the thick of competition. The season is winding down and the Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks have been stringing important wins along the way. It’s right to argue that they can be potentially dangerous come playoff time, but it’s also warranted to say that they still have ways to improve.
Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks are fifth in the West with a 38-28 record after Friday's games. They are a game ahead of the sixth place LA Lakers and seventh place Portland Trail Blazers who have identical 37-29 win-loss cards. And because they are on top of the Southwest Division (five games ahead of second place Memphis Grizzlies), they hold the tiebreaker should they share the same record with either of the two. This all means that the Mavericks, who are 8-2 in their last 10 games, are in pretty good shape to enter the playoffs.
Why they’re dangerous
The obvious answer is Luka Doncic. Playing at an All-NBA level this season, Luka Magic can single-handedly change the course of a playoff series. Whenever you have a guy with Doncic’s caliber, you’re automatically put in a position to succeed.
Monday’s 113-109 victory over the Brooklyn Nets can be considered a statement win for the Mavericks. It was Dallas basketball in all its guts and gore, the good coinciding with the bad. Doncic’s numbers were not god-like (24 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists), but his teammates shared the scoring load. Tim Hardaway Jr. had 23 while Dorian Finney-Smith chipped in with 17. And even though they let Kyrie Irving torch them for 45 points, they managed to pull enough endgame plays to get the win.
It seems like Doncic has found the perfect rhythm in keeping his teammates in the same tune. A high pick-and-roll with Dwight Powell (who’s proven to be a superb bulldozer off a screen), flanked by gunners Finney-Smith or Hardaway Jr. bodes problems for a lot of teams. You have to respect Doncic’s offensive weaponry, which is already a handful, but then you have to factor in how he picks apart defenses because of his decision-making. Will he pass to the cutting Powell or whip a pass to Hardaway Jr. in the corner? It’s like the old basketball adage of "pick your poison" but cranked to Doncic levels of madness.
What needs to improve
Kristaps Porzingis’ recent absence because of right knee soreness will surely affect the Mavericks in the long run. The 7-foot-3 big man can easily put up points on the scoreboard which gives Doncic more options on offense. On the other end, even though Porzingis might have trouble guarding the likes of Nikola Jokic and Anthony Davis, he’s not really a huge liability on defense. The Mavericks have been relatively fine without Porzingis, but adding an offensive threat to complement Doncic is highly welcome.
The concern on the defensive end, however, is valid. They have a 112.1 defensive rating, which is 19th in the league. They are also 17th in defensive rebounding with 34.5 a game and 16th in terms of giving up second chance points at 12.9 per contest. What they are pretty good at is defending the paint, limiting opponents to 44.8 points in the shaded area, good for sixth overall.
Every advantage on the defensive end will be used especially if they’re going to face the fifth-seeded Denver Nuggets in the first round. Jokic is the center of the Denver solar system and every moving piece orbiting him has a chance to score. Not to mention there’s Michael Porter Jr., who’s become a flaming comet, unhinged in scoring the ball.
Doncic and the Mavs can go toe-to-toe with the Nuggets. But in a seven-game series, the team with the MVP candidate that’s been shredding defenses will obviously have the advantage.
New York Knicks
The Knicks have been handling their business in the East. As of writing, they are the fourth seed of the conference with a 37-29 record, a game ahead of the fifth-seeded Atlanta Hawks. They’ve won 12 of their last 14 games, including impressive victories over the Lakers, Mavericks, and Hawks. Their two losses, however, were against the Suns, and most recently, the Nuggets.
Why they’re dangerous
The Knicks’ main weapon is a star who’s only beginning to tap into his prime. Rumbles about an All-NBA selection are not without merit for Julius Randle who’s having a heck of a year.
The stats speak boldly of New York’s breakout season. Through 65 games, Randle is up to 24.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 5.9 assists — leading the Knicks in all three categories. In his seventh season and at age 26, Randle has morphed into something that even the most die-hard Knicks fan never saw coming: a legitimate star in the league. Like most big names, he can will his team to victory on any given night. His scary combination of size, skill, and veteran smarts has given him a different edge this season.
The rise of RJ Barrett is also key to the buzz in New York. For a sophomore player who’s been asked to ride shotgun alongside Randle, he’s holding his own. The same shoutout goes to the potent cast of Alec Burks, Derrick Rose, Immanuel Quickley, Reggie Bullock, and Nerlens Noel. The Knicks are a ragtag group of guys who will fight and scrap in the playoffs. You can also bet that a team coached by Tom Thibodeau will never wave the white flag.
What needs to improve
Though Randle is having a meteoric year, he is still trapped by the confines of a budding star. He’s not mentioned in the same breath as LeBron James or Giannis Antetokounmpo or Steph Curry (not yet, that is), which means defenses can still throw him off his game. In the playoffs, smart teams will do everything they can to take out Randle’s go-to move. If he manages to counter that, then teams will create another counter. So on and so forth. The point is that it will be way harder for New York to score if Randle doesn’t go supernova in a seven-game series.
Even if Randle gets his 24 points, it’s a lot to ask for Barrett and the others to have big scoring outputs as well. Again, playoff defenses will be unforgiving and merciless. For a Knicks team who’s not an offensive juggernaut by any means (107.3 PPG, 25th in the league in scoring), it’ll be interesting to see how they can keep up in a shootout. They can slug it out in a defensive battle, but they have to find ways to get easy scoring opportunities.
All eyes are on who’s going to compete in the play-in tournament, but let’s not forget about the mid-tier teams who are ready to pack a punch come playoff time. The Mavs and the Knicks are on a roll right now and they’ll be looking to keep their momentum going.
