With only 21 games left, Luka Doncic the Dallas Mavericks is getting all the respect in multiple NBA power rankings.
The Dallas Mavericks season's lowest point came on Christmas night when their Underman roster lost to the Utah Jazz. Dallas put up a great fight given the circumstances (injuries and the COVID protocol), but the defeat reduced the team to a season-low record of 16-18.
A lot has changed since then, however, with Luka Doncic finding his groove in a major way and leading the Mavs resurgence. Dallas - fifth in the Western Conference standings - is now 36-25 on the season, with a chance to go in 12 games of over .500 if it takes care of the trade against a struggling Lakers squad. Doncic averaged 34.7 points, 10.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists in February, while shooting 45.7 percent from the ground and 41.2 percent from deep.
This recent success for the Mavs has resulted in an improvement in his position in several NBA power rankings. First, NBA reporter Mark Stein named Dallas his top-10 this week.
"The Mavericks stand as a fascinating example of modern basketball," Stein said in his argument for taking the Mavericks up a notch. "Even with both Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson on ... Dallas decided it needed even more ballhandling. ... Moving on from Porzingis was the primary objective, but early returns from newcomers has been promising, as is most illustrated by Dinwiddie's role in Sunday's impressive climb of Dallas from a 21-point hole to win at Golden State."
Next, NBA.com has the Mavs even more so, ranking them as the seventh best team in the league. In that set of rankings, John Schuhman has Dallas ahead of the Utah Jazz and — in what could be the result of the Mavs' comeback win on Sunday night — even the Golden State Warriors.
"The Maw now lead the league with 12 wins (they're 12-20), which they trail by double points," Schuhman writes. Their return from 21 points at Golden State on Sunday was their first win in a game, more than 20 points behind as they had two in the bubble of 2020. They were still just 18-for-78 (23) percent).) on clutch three, but Spencer Dinwiddie (2-for-24 on clutch three in his last full season with Brooklyn, 7-for-15 this season) took a big hit from Luka Doncic's feed, A remarkable, 26-1 run and hit Mavs for a six in less than two minutes."
Overall, the Mavs are ranked fifth in defensive ratings and 16th in defensive ratings. For the most part, the much better defense has remained consistent, but the offense has recently taken a positive leap. In the last 10 games, Dallas has the eighth best offensive rating in the league.
Doncic regaining his MVP-candidate form has been the main catalyst for this change, and if this continues for the remainder of the season, the Mavs will not only have a chance of a first round exit from the playoffs, Rather they can potentially go further.