NBA SoFi Play-in Tournament history certainly does not favor the Mavericks, who Wednesday night in Sacramento will make their franchise debut in the fifth-year format.
Dallas is the 10th seed in the West, and in case you haven’t heard by now, no 10th seed in either conference has ever won enough games to secure a No. 8 playoff seed.
All-time, 10th seeds are 2-6 in play-in games and 0-2 when playing for the 8th playoff seed. Seemingly just as ominous, it was just last year that No. 9 seed Sacramento hosted No. 10 seed Golden State and Klay Thompson and won in a 118-94 rout.
Mavericks center Daniel Gafford said the closest comparison he’s experienced was as a freshman in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, when Butler eliminated Gafford’s Arkansas Razorbacks in the first round.
“Your approach is for sure going to have to be at an elite level,” Gafford said. “It’s like go home if we lose; and then if we win, we advance. It’s survival of the fittest at this point.”
Last April 16, the same day that Sacramento eliminated Golden State, the No. 8 seed Lakers won at No. 7 New Orleans, 110-106, with Anthony Davis scoring 20 points and pulling down 15 rebounds.
Mavericks guard Max Christie, who came to Dallas with Davis in the Luka Doncic trade, did not play in that Lakers play-in victory. Nor did he play in the Lakers’ previous year play-in overtime victory over Minnesota, 108-102, behind Davis’ 24 points and 15 rebounds.
“I’m looking forward to playing in one [Wednesday], but being an observer on the bench for the last two years in the play-in, it’s definitely a different atmosphere,” Christie. “Everybody knows the nature of the game.
“It’s a win or go home game, and so both teams have a lot more energy and a lot more juice. And so it’s going to be fun to play-in, in a crowd, especially Sacramento, the place is tough to win around this time of year, so it’s gonna be good.”
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