SALT LAKE CITY — The Mavericks' last 11-day trip has been daunting, both in length and geographic inconvenience, but it's worth noting that this season has been even worse.
About six months ago, Dallas traveled to Abu Dhabi and Spain to play three exhibition games, a round trip of 16,500 miles and across three continents in 12 days.
But it was a goodwill trip. The game didn't matter. Conversely, the five games the Mavericks play, traveling 6,200 miles and crossing the western half of the United States four times, could determine their playoff fate.
The good news for the Mavericks (41-29) is that they have won seven of their last eight games, their best run of the season.
The not-so-good news? By the time they practiced in Dallas on Sunday and flew to Salt Lake City to play the Jazz on Monday, the Mavericks were in eighth place in the Western Conference, exactly where they were when this streak began.
“Everyone's trust and the chemistry that we've built is going to be tested,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We have a great road trip ahead of us to test. Let's see how we respond.”
With 12 games remaining, the Mavericks are teetering between clinching the West's six automatic playoff berths and being relegated to the play-in tournament for seventh through 10th place, and an already significant trip ends in tragedy. The situation was made even more difficult.
When the NBA postponed the Jan. 19 Mavericks-Warriors game in San Francisco due to the sudden death of Golden State assistant coach Dejan Milojevic, one of the consequences was a drastic change to Dallas' stretch run schedule. Met.
The January 19 game was moved to April 2 and was essentially scheduled as the fifth game on the road, but that was not the case logically, geographically, or logistically.
After playing Utah on Monday night and playing an important game on short notice against the No. 7 Kings on Tuesday, the Mavericks will spend three days in Sacramento before facing the Kings again on Friday. The original schedule had the trip ending in Houston on Sunday.
Instead of returning home for the game against Golden State two days later as originally planned, Dallas will fly 1,600 miles from Houston to San Francisco for a make-up game — just 75 miles away in Sacramento last week. Even though it was four days in a row, I'm from San Francisco.
“It's a long trip, but there are other teams that are on a long trip,” Kidd said. “We just have to win one game at a time.”
Easier said than done when you have 11 days worth of stuff packed into your suitcase and are facing two super long flights just to play a single game.
After returning home on April 3rd, further shuffling due to the Warriors' two postponements in January resulted in Dallas hosting Atlanta on April 4th and Golden State on April 5th. The original schedule had the Mavericks off on April 3rd and 4th. His two days off are rare but necessary late in the season.
I have no choice. It's been a rocky road for Dallas for much of this season, overcoming a series of injuries and two big deadline trades to bring Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Daniel Gafford, Derrick Jones Jr., P.J. -The new starting lineup, Washington, has a record of 7 wins and 0 losses. .
“It feels great,” Irving said of Dallas' rapid growth. We had to build through adversity and some failures.
“I think that's the beautiful aspect of this work. Through the struggle, we were able to emerge on the other side and see a glimmer of light turn into a victory.
“We were sitting here, what, two weeks ago? We've lost the last five games and we were like, how can we get on the same page, align, align and build consistency? He was walking back and forth in the locker room.”
While this trip looks difficult, the Mavericks will have a rare three-day break after Thursday's home win against Utah, including Saturday, when Kidd celebrated his 51st birthday and Irving celebrated his 32nd birthday. I was fortunate enough to be able to take part in this expedition. Back to back road with fresh legs.
And while it's unfortunate for Dallas that Tuesday's game in Sacramento will be the Mavericks' third consecutive matchup against the Kings, Sacramento also plays at home Monday against Philadelphia. .
“We all know what we're fighting for,” Jones said. “We just keep moving forward.”
The crazy part, and the difficulty of the West, is that the Mavericks are moving forward in terms of on-court success without moving up the standings.
Before winning seven of their last eight games, they were in eighth place in the West with a record of 34 wins and 28 losses. After sitting in eighth place for 16 straight days, they moved up to seventh with Irving's left-handed buzzer-beater at home against Denver on St. Patrick's Day, and moved up to sixth with Thursday's win over the Jazz. .
During their three-day hiatus, they dropped two places. They now face what will likely be a season-defining trip, and they go into it with real momentum.
“Every game is important,” Irving said. “It's been that way for the last few weeks, so nothing really has changed.
“I feel like we're figuring it out,” he said of consistency. You can tell when the arena is excited, on the road, especially with his AAC.Since the winner of that game [against Denver], I felt it pulsating. It feels like a special year. ”
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