The Mavericks are definitely the strongest team in recent times, with 16 wins in the last 18 games, which has allowed them to get rid of the play-off troubles and rise directly to 5th place in the West, and only 1 win away from the 4th Clippers, and there is still a chance to continue climbing!
The Mavericks have secured the 5th position and still hope to compete for the 4th, but obviously in their eyes, the home-court advantage in the playoffs is not so important, so after locking the 5th, the team directly let Irving and Doncic take turns to rest and start preparing for the playoffs, and also have the idea of giving up the next 2 regular season games.
The Mavericks took turns resting Irving and Doncic, but the opponents behind the team were still very simple, they met the Pistons! The Pistons were the worst team this season, with only a 13-67 record, ranking first from the bottom in the East, and the Mavericks even if they lost 2 cores, their strength was not inferior to the Pistons, and the chances of winning were still great.
At the beginning of the game, the Mavericks obviously played very unsuitably, without Irving and Doncic to organize the offense, the team played a mess, and the offensive efficiency was not high, but fortunately, the Pistons were indeed a bad team, even so, they did not have the upper hand, and the two teams played back and forth! Hardy and Prosper suddenly broke out, leading the Mavericks' second team to counterattack, and the team once tied the score! However, with the appearance of the main players of the Pistons, especially driven by Suser and Metu, the Pistons once again opened a 9:2 offensive climax and achieved a 7-point advantage at halftime.
In the second half, the Pistons' offensive state was still hot, Wiseman scored points inside, Suser and Metu fired outside, and the Pistons blossomed inside and outside, playing an 11:4 offensive wave, opening up a 14-point gap in one fell swoop! Hardy scored points for the Mavericks to stop the bleeding, but the team's overall performance was still average, and the situation could only be maintained, and the score difference was always about 10 points behind! In the midst of the stalemate, the Pistons once again played an offensive climax, and the point difference came directly to more than 15 points, and the Mavericks, who lacked offensive explosiveness, had no chance at all, so they could only choose to disarm and surrender, and finally the Pistons won the Mavericks 107:89, causing a big upset.
Pistons (14-67): Metu 18 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals, Suser 24 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, Ivey 7 points and 5 assists, Wiseman 10 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks, Flynn 10 points, 5 assists and 4 steals, Fournier 13 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists, Rodon 11 points, 4 rebounds and 3 blocks. Mavericks (50-31): Hardy 25 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists, Prosper 16 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals, Washington 9 points and 3 boards, Hardaway 8 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, Jones 3 points and 3 assists, Green 4 points and 3 boards, Powell 4 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists.
The Mavericks fell down violently, and this game can be regarded as a big upset in the NBA, the Mavericks lack a double core, in fact, the Pistons Cunningham, Ivey, Duren, Stewart and other core players did not play, it can be seen that the role players of the Mavericks are still relatively limited in strength and rely too much on core players.
With the Mavericks losing this game, their record has become 50-31, while the Clippers are 51-29, the Clippers have the advantage of a 2-team record, so they have locked the 4th position in the West, and the Mavericks have also locked the 5th position in the West, the Clippers and the Mavericks will meet in the first round of the playoffs, which is also the first playoff match of the NBA this season!
The Mavericks and the Clippers are really old rivals, the two teams have met twice in the first round of the playoffs in recent years, but the final result is that the Clippers won and advanced! And this season, the Clippers continue to strengthen, with small cards, George, Harden, Wei Shao 4 star players, as well as Powell, Zubac and other generals, the overall strength of the team is extraordinary! And the Mavericks also have a double core lineup of Doncic and Irving, and the 2 teams have a lot of All-Star players, and the strength is relatively close, this round of the series is destined to be very exciting, who can win the series, it's really hard to say.