[HitsterParticipant]

With the Lakers playing the Mavericks tonight, this game could have a big effect on the 8th seeding spot out West. It is a huge game for both teams and Utah currently in 8th place can almost sit back and enjoy the game as they will know it will do damage to one of their main contenders for the 8th seeding.

It is perhaps a game that the Mavs really do need to win for if they lose they would be 3 wins behind both the Lakers and Utah with only 8 games left in their regular season. The Lakers have 7 of their last 8 at home so after tonight they would still have 6 out of 7 at home but a loss put the Mavs right back in the mix and give a huge boost to Utah.

I was wondering if making or missing out on the play offs do affect the finances of larger teams like the Mavs and Lakers or whether their large TV deals and merch sales can almost compensate for this. For a smaller market club like Utah I would assume that play off revenue would be more important especially as they did not look to trade either Jefferson or Millsap around deadline time I’d assume in order to try and guarantee a play off spot.

After a very slow start mainly caused by Dirk missing 29 games, Dallas have almost sneaked up on the blindside as the hype has been about the Lakers with formation issues, Kobe reaching landmarks etc. It is perhaps lucky for the Lakers that Dirk was out for if he had played 70 odd games this year, the Mavs may well have been comfortably in the play offs. They are 23-21 with Dirk and 13-16 without him plus you have to factor in that it has taken Dirk a while to get back to full form this season. He is 19.9ppg post All Star Break, before that he was only 15.2 ppg.

[TyroberParticipant]

Two of these teams are going to miss the playoffs and that is MILLIONS of dollars gone. Extra playoff money would mean a lot to every single team. This game is super important and the Jazz would rather have the Mavericks win. If the Lakers win it pretty much kills the Mavs chances and keeps the Lakers season alive.

[benny15Participant]

im rooting for the Mavs to win it cause they been very professional with their approach this season, despite all the injuries they’ve had. but im very tempted to not watch the game because of all the bad calls favoring the lakers lately. it just might piss me off and ruin the experience of watching the game.

[Author]

Posts