In this week's edition of power rankings roundup, surprisingly a lot of rankers keep the Mavs right around where they were last week, give or take. Frankly, after bad losses to the Kings and Denver, I was expecting a little more movement downward.
This week, rankers liked the high-scoring offense, Dirk's big games, and their impressive (though not so much lately) overtime win-loss record. Most rankers also point out the absence of defense, noting that Dallas is near the bottom of the league in rebounding, and the difficult schedule coming up.
Speaking of difficult teams to play, these rankings don't reflect Monday's loss to the Clippers (thankfully). As always, you can read the full rankings for each site by clicking on "what they said," and let us know what you think about the rankings in the comments!
ESPN
This week: 17 Last week: 16
For all of the Mavs' recent scoring binges, including their first back-to-back-to-back games with at least 120 points since (wow) 2004, it's tough for them not to dwell on some recent squandered opportunities, too. Dirk Nowitzki has two of his four 30-point games this season just in the past two weeks ... but Dallas won neither game.
CBS Sports
This week: 17 Last week: 14
The Mavericks are 20th in defense since January 1, and are 16-21 in that span. They're not plummeting like a stone, but the parachute has been deployed and the ground is coming up fast.
NBA.com
This week: 15 Last week: 15
Another week, another overtime for the Mavs, who are 5-8 (11th in the West) since Feb. 1. A bad turnover forced OT in Denver on Sunday, but rebounding has been a bigger issue. They rank last in defensive rebounding percentage and have allowed a league-high 17.5 second chance points per game since the All-Star break, with games against DeAndre Jordan and Andre Drummond this week.
Sports Illustrated
This week: 14 Last week: 13
The Mavericks are an impressive 7-4 in a league-high 13 overtime games, but also have a league-high 10 losses by three points or less. Does that make them a bad good team, or a good bad team? Well, only the Lakers, Nets and Sixers have beaten fewer plus-.500 opponents. ...
USA Today
This week: 13 Last week: 14
The Mavericks, currently the No. 6 seed, play their next nine games against playoff teams.
NBC Sports
This week: 13 Last week: 13
Tough losses to Sacramento and Denver in their last two games, a rough couple games after a strong homestead. The good news for Dallas is Chandler Parsons has played fantastic hoops of late, the bad news is their defense is 25th in the NBA in their last 10 games. They have a difficult schedule to close out the season, but with a 3.5 game cushion I see them making the playoffs.