Are Mavs 'Clutch'? Dallas Needs 1 Major Fix To Exit NBA Basement

DALLAS - Are they "clutch''?

Dig inside the numbers - one number in particular - and you discover just how close last year's Dallas Mavs were to not being ...

Well, terrible.

Is the Dallas roster better this year than it was in its 26-win 2025-26 campaign? The presence of a healthy Kyrie Irving alone would suggest a positive answer there.

Where else can they improve?

Oddsmakers have set Dallas' win total at 35 - an improvement of 10 games But we can argue that number looks low once you examine what actually happened during that 26-56 season.

The Mavericks tied for the league lead with 45 "clutch games.'' What are "clutch games''? They are defined as games within five points in the final five minutes.

How'd Dallas do there?

The Mavs went 17-28 in those outings ... so 13 of their losses came by two possessions or fewer.

We will take an educated guess that a 26-win team does not typically play that many close games. Which means ... Dallas was actually semi-competitive on an almost-nightly basis but struggled to finish.

"Bad'' is bad.

But "struggling to finish'' doesn't necessarily lock a team into being "bad.''

Let's do some math.

If the Mavs had simply split their clutch games last season rather than losing 28 of 45, they would have finished around 31-51.

That's a five-game jump.

Can they make that sort of a jump this year ... and then another Irving-driven leap?

Irving is a clutch guy. The most recent proof came in 2023-24, his last healthy season in Dallas, when the Mavericks went 16-4 in clutch games with Irving. He shot 60 percent from the field and 42 percent from 3-point range in those situations.

Those are remarkable efficiency numbers.

Those are clutch numbers.

We will suggest that the Mavericks of last year were asking a 19-year-old rookie in Cooper Flagg to carry a supporting cast without much late-game experience to victory. ... and that this year, Flagg will be better and there is more help to share his load.

READ MORE: NBA Debate: Is Mavs' Cooper Flagg Really A 'Generational Talent'?

Flagg enters his second season after winning Rookie of the Year and leading the team in points, rebounds, assists and steals. This year, Irving figures to be the No. 1 assist guy and the No. 2 scorer, so the burden 

Irving is 34, coming off a torn ACL and might miss some games across a schedule featuring a league-high 16 back-to-backs. Flagg's second-year leap is not guaranteed. And the Western Conference remains brutal.

But based on these numbers, Dallas really needs to fix just one thing to climb out of the NBA basement: Turn some close losses into wins.

Be "clutch.''