Down Goes Dirk; Mavs Should Still Be Fine

By Bethlehem Shoals
First, drip some of that cereal out the box for Dirk Nowitzki, who over the weekend had this befall him:

Cuban is saying “two weeks”, which, given the gruesome nature of this clip, might be some rank optimism.
But say it is two weeks. Can the Mavs really afford that absence? Cuban’s Finest are currently sitting on the seventh seed, with Golden State at eight and Denver hovering on the precipice. It goes without saying that you don’t want to bank on the Warriors or Nuggets holding stable between now and the end of the season; these are possibly the league’s two most volatile teams. If they get hot, they could roll over a stagnant Mavericks team like a hump of carrion.
Like they always say, behold the schedule! Dallas has to face New Orleans, Phoenix (if that counts as scary these days), Utah, L.A. Lakers, and Golen State. But they also have the Sonics and Clippers twice each, which could’ve been a real gift if they were looking a push for home court. Regardless, if Josh Howard can continue his slight return, Dallas should go .500 down this stretch.
The Warriors also get NOLA, and have to deal with the Spurs. The Nuggets have Memphis twice, but their fair share of strong opponents (how could you not in the West?). Intrigue of the month: Golden State and Denver face each other twice in these final weeks.
It comes down to this: If Dallas does the predictable thing and holds tough—which is what we expect of this club—they’re in the playoffs. But the other two teams in equation could positively combust, in either a good or bad way. I don’t think the Mavs are going to do that, so they just have to pray for relative inactivity (or self-destructivity) from the Warriors and Nuggets.↵