Mavericks, Warriors in same situation: ‘inspiring and depressing’

You can call this the NBA’s version of living paycheck-to-paycheck.

Not that NBA players have to do that.

But when it comes to the Western Conference standings, that’s the way things are for about a half-dozen teams, including the Mavericks as they head into their final 10 games of the 2022-23 regular season.

In other words, it’s time to put up or shut up, crunch time, fish-or-cut-bait time.

Whatever your preferred vernacular is.

One day, you’re flush with optimism. The next you’re wondering where your next victory is coming from.

“It’s inspiring and depressing all at the same time,” said Golden State’s Steph Curry after the Warriors worked out Tuesday at SMU. “You still feel like you’re in it, which we are, and we still feel like we can peak at the right time. There’s a lot of confidence in that.

“But also, you don’t want to be in a situation with everything we’ve accomplished and the idea of who we are, that we’re checking the standings for the last 20 games to see if we’re in or out of the play-in tournament. So it’s weird in that sense.”

In other words, as tough as this is on the Mavericks, the team that beat them in last year’s Western Conference finals and won the NBA championship is in the same boat.

And probably feels even more anxious about the situation as they come to American Airlines Center Wednesday for a critical game (6:30 p.m. tipoff).

It’s both teams’ biggest game of the season so far, but that will change as the games dwindle. The Warriors are directly in front of the Mavericks in the West. The winner Wednesday will own the tiebreaker should they end up with the same record when the season ends on April 9.

The loser will have a tougher road in the final three weeks.

“It’s fun – we’d rather not be in this mix, but it is fun,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We got nine games left and every one of them is crucial.

“I think for the teams that end up surviving this, it might be an advantage going into the playoffs. It’s almost like we’ve already started the playoffs. It’s a fight to the end. Everybody’s trying to get in, trying to avoid the play-in, or get into the play-in. Everything is a possibility.”

And they change quickly.

“We could finish in the top six, which I think four or five teams, maybe more, can say the same thing,” Kerr said. “And you can finish in 11^th and be out of it. I’ve never seen anything like this. This is, as far as I know, unprecedented.”

And nobody, not even the defending champs, can get by on reputation or past performances.

The Warriors have an 8-29 record away from their home floor and had lost 11 in a row on the road until Monday’s win in Houston.

So being the champions doesn’t carry a lot of weight right now.

“That doesn’t mean anything until you actually go out and do something about it,” Curry said. “We can say we’re the champs and all those things, but at the end of the day, that’s why you have to play the games. That’s what’s inspiring about it. We can finish on a high note that gives us a chance to do something special this year.”

As Klay Thompson said: “It’s not ideal because you want to have the best record in the league. But we’re still in control of our own destiny. At this point of the season, injuries, guys out of the lineup, change in the lineups . . . We want to avoid that play-in game, obviously. But it’s fun. It’s better than being on the other side, which would be not in fighting position. We’re still right there.”

And so are the Mavericks, which will make this stretch drive riveting.

Here’s what else to watch for Wednesday as the Mavericks and Warriors meet for the last time this regular season:

• The Warriors are finishing a five-game trip that started with three losses before they bumped off Houston 121-108 on Monday. They have won 29 games at home and only eight on the road. The biggest home-road disparity in NBA history was in 2002-03 when Chicago had 27 home wins but only three on the road.
• The Mavericks are sweating out a lot of key injuries. Luka Dončić (left thigh strain), Kyrie Irving (right foot soreness) and Markieff Morris (left knee soreness) all are questionable for Wednesday’s game.
• The Mavericks are coming off a 2-1 trip that featured one game they probably should have lost against the LA Lakers, when a buzzer-beating three-pointer saved them, and another game they probably should have won, when Memphis stormed back from 16 points down for the victory Monday.
• The Mavericks and Warriors each have won once this season on their home court against each other. The last meeting in San Francisco was the last game before the Mavericks pulled off the trade for Kyrie Irving. “We haven’t seen Kyrie (with the Mavericks),” Steph Curry said. “But they play a very similar style as they did before the trade except they have two dynamic guards that can play-make and all that. We understand the defensive approach we need to have. If we can get stops, usually we can run in transition. Where we get in trouble is when we foul too much, especially against them. They love to slow it down anyway.”
• The Mavericks have another home game Friday against Charlotte before hitting the road for five games against Eastern Conference competition.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (37-36) at DALLAS MAVERICKS (36-36)

• When: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday.
• Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas.
• TV: Bally Sports Southwest, ESPN.
• Radio:1 FM, 99.1 FM Zona MX (Spanish).

Twitter: @ESefko