Could the Dallas Mavericks Actually Miss the NBA Playoffs?

Seventh.

That is the word troubling the Dallas Mavericks and their fans with just nine games to go in the regular season. Seventh is the place in which Dallas, the defending champions, sit in the Western Conference. They are even with Denver for the seventh spot, and are just a game ahead of the Phoenix Suns and a game-and-a-half up on the Utah Jazz.

On the other hand, the Mavs are a game out of sixth place, currently held by Houston, but it is highly unlikely they will finish any higher than that. Memphis, currently in fifth place, has a three-and-a-half game lead on the spot from the Mavs.

It has been an up and down season for the Mavs, who still hope that they can find a way to defend the franchise's first NBA Championship. Right now they sit at 31-26, well below where expectations were coming into the season.

Dallas got off to a rocky start right from the get-go, getting demolished by Miami on Christmas Day and following that up with a blow-out loss against the Nuggets.

They seemed to have the ship righted, going 13-5 in the month of January, but since then the Mavs have just been inconsistent. They never seemed to find their rhythm on the season.

Still, it was widely assumed that Dallas would be good enough to make it into the playoffs. Now that assumption is in serious danger. 

The Mavericks must play six of their final nine games on the road, and five of their final nine against teams that are either in the playoffs right now or still fighting for a spot. 

The good news is that Phoenix has an even tougher schedule (they play eight of their final nine against playoff or playoff-hungry teams). But the Suns—and the Jazz—could catch Dallas if the Mavs play lackluster basketball over the final stretch of the season.

Even if Dallas does get in, very few expect them to get back to the finals this season, even though they have much of their team back from last year's championship squad. 

Early in the season, this could be seen as a sign of disrespect. After all, they are the defending champions—"Of course they have a shot to win the West this year."

But now, one can hardly blame you for not picking the Mavs to get out of the first round.

So what's been the issue that has made them so...average?

Dirk Nowitzki is having another stellar season after struggling out of the gate. Jason Terry is doing what he does as one of the league's best sixth men. Shawn Marion is also playing well for the Mavs. 

Did losing Tyson Chandler and JJ Barea really hurt them that much?

After all, Ian Mahimi, Delonte West, and Rodrigue Beaubois seem to be taking their spots rather well. Mahimi is nowhere close to Chandler's level, but there are certainly much worse center combos in the league than Mahimi and Brendan Haywood.

So what is it? Mavs fans can look at two main reasons for why the team has been so inconsistent this year.

One has been the failure of Lamar Odom to pan out as a key factor for the team. I might have downplayed the loss of Tyson Chandler and JJ Barea from last year's team. While it's true that their replacements have played admirably, no one on the Mavs' roster brings to the table what they brought during last year's championship run, particularly Chandler.

However, the Mavs counteracted the loss of those two players by going out in the offseason and making what seemed to be a huge move, trading for the reigning sixth man of the year, Lamar Odom.

Offensively at least, this was expected to really help Dallas by taking some of the pressure of Dirk Nowitzki. Needless to say, that didn't happen. Odom was a shell of his usual self for the Mavs, averaging a mere 6.6 points a game.

His heart never seemed to be in it after the Lakers offered him up as trade bait in the Chris Paul deal, and he ended up causing unneeded distraction in the Mavericks' locker room until they finally placed him on the inactive list yesterday.

The other thing that seemed to hurt the Mavs was the shortened NBA season because of the lockout. The Mavericks are a veteran team, one of the oldest in the NBA. They had to play longer than most everyone else in the league last year due to their championship run, and after winning the title they needed a full offseason to recover. 

Instead what they got was a shortened training camp which did not get them prepared for the season. The Mavs seemed to still be suffering from a championship hangover.

A final problem is that they have been plagued with injuries all season, and it has kept them from reaching their full potential.

Despite everything, I still fully believe that the Mavericks have the capability to win playoff series this year. As long as Dirk can take over a game and they play solid defense, I wouldn't count them out against anyone in the wide-open Western Conference.

However, for that to happen they must must first make the playoffs, something that is far from a sure thing. If they miss out, 2012 will go down as one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history.