Ranking the Pelicans potential playoff threats

2. Dallas Mavericks

This is a tricky matchup. Dallas would undoubtedly boast the best player on the floor in Luka Doncic. They'd have an argument in the best two if you count Kyrie Irving, but I'll save that debate for the comments on Ball Don't Stop's Instagram posts.

The crux here is again, home court advantage. In an ideal world, this would be a four/five Western Conference matchup with the Pelicans getting the first two stanzas of the series at home.

Dallas is red hot as it stands, having won nine of their last ten games, but fatal flaws in their roster will make the vulnerable come playoff time. Dallas is in the bottom half of the leauge in three point defense. For a Pelicans squad that bangs out long jumpers with the best squads in the Association, that's music to their ears.

The second flaw is the lack of a tertiary creator outside of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Potential First-Team All Defense forward Herb Jones will have his handful in matchups against those two dazzling ball handlers, but if Jones shuts down Dallas' primary stars like he's done to teams all season, points for the Mavericks will dry up quickly.