NBA Power Rankings 2012: Dallas Mavericks At No. 8

The defending NBA Champions are definitely in solid playoff positioning and are hoping to climb their way back to the top after a rough start to their season. Currently the Dallas Mavericks are No. 8 in the latest NBA Power Rankings from SB Nation's Tom Ziller. Ziller writes:

Dallas continues to do enough to remain safely in the playoff bracket. Oddly enough, the incredible Lamar Odom saga continues to largely get ignored nationally. That's probably for the best.

Dallas is going to have to get better on the road, currently at a 10-14 record, if they want to advance far. They're 5-5 in their last 10 games, and the team has yet to have the look of a defending champ all season when compared to the elite contenders like the Thunder, Spurs or Bulls. Still the NBA Playoffs are a whole different ball game and that's when Dirk Nowitzki and company need to come alive.

For more on the Mavericks go check out Mavs Moneyball.

Mavericks Schedule 2012: Dallas Takes On The Top Teams From The East This Week

With the Western Conference playoff race extremely tight these next weeks games are huge for the Dallas Mavericks. They first get a rematch with the Houston Rockes who they struggled to beat on Saturday night even though the Rockets were without Kevin Martin and Kyle Lowry.

This time the matchup is at home for the Mavericks and maybe this time they can get some production from Lamar Odom instead of the zero points he has scored over the past two games.

The second leg of the trip has the Mavericks going on the road to take on the Miami Heat who have the second best record in the Eastern Conference and have the best home record in the NBA at 20-2.

The final game of the week has the Mavericks go up against the Magic are 31-18 and third in the Eastern Conference. So this week will be big to in determining the Mavericks Western Conference status since the conference records are so tight.

For more on the Mavericks go visit Mavs Moneyball.

NBA Standings 2012: Mavericks Are Percentage Points Out Of No. 4 Spot In The West

The Mavericks win over the Rockets Saturday night moved them up to the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference playoff race, and are now only percentage points behind the Clippers for home court advantage.

The Western Conference playoff race is extremely tight with there being 1.5 games between the No. 4 spot and No. 9 spot, so every game is veyr important the rest of the season. Had the Mavericks fell last night to the Rockets they would have fallen to the No. 7 spot.

For more on the Mavericks go check out Mavs Moneyball.