NBA Power Rankings week 14: OKC Thunder among the ‘road warriors’

Dallas Mavericks:

Offense: (116.2) 1st
Defense: (109.6) tied 16th
Net: (plus +6..6)  tied 3rd

Results Week 14: (1-2): Won vs. Blazers: 133-125, Lost vs. Clippers: 107-110, Jazz: 107-112
Games Week 15: (4 games) Mon at Thunder | Tues vs. Suns | Fri at Rockets | Sat vs. Hawks

Just as Kristaps Porzingis returned to the fold the Mavericks got hit –and hit hard as Dwight Powell went down due to a ruptured Achilles tendon.

It’s a tough loss for a club with aspirations of a deep playoff run (and for the Canadian National team) as Powell was a major part of the core.

Donnie Nelson acted swiftly trading Isaiah Roby to the OKC Thunder (a steal by Sam Presti – with future benefits in store). The first move was made in order to create space for the bigger trade to bring Willie Cauley-Stein to Dallas.  Presumably, the WCS addition is two-fold, first to offset the loss of Powell and second because Kristaps Porzingis prefers the power forward role and residing outside the paint offensively.

To start week 15 the Mavericks will be in OKC and the game takes on more precedence given the Mavericks loss to the Jazz and Thunder victory over the Wolves. The teams both have 28 wins but OKC has two extra losses by virtue of playing additional games. Suddenly the Thunder is closer to moving into the fifth seed than they are to falling off the ladder.

For the Mavericks they’ll need to integrate Cauley-Stein and figure out their clutch time situation as Dallas could have at least another five wins if they could close out games in the clutch.