The Dallas Mavericks had a slow start to the season as the lost their first three games and were only 5-5 after their first 10 games, but since that stumble to start the season the Mavericks have positioned themselves to second place in the Southwest division by going 12-6 since then.
According to ESPN's John Hollinger and his playoff projections, the Mavericks have a 79.6 percent chance of making to the playoffs, but only a 2.1 percent chance of repeating as NBA champions and a 5.9 percent chance of returning to the Finals.
The Mavericks are currently sitting at the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference and five games back of the Oklahoma City Thunder who have the best record in the West. The Southwest division is tight and the Mavericks currently are one-half game ahead of the Houston Rockets and only two games back of the San Antonio Spurs, so there seeding can change quite a bit from now until the end of the regular season.
The odds of the Mavericks even making the playoffs are at 79.6 percent chance, but the West race is a tight one and the Mavericks are 1.5 games out of the No. 2 seed and 2.5 games from being out of the playoffs all together.