Looking at the next six games

On the surface, the Mavs upcoming stretch may look rather daunting. They play three straight on the West Coast, come home for one game, then go out East for two games before coming home to play a two-game home stand. Thats five of their next six in the far reaches of the country. Travel is always tough on a team, and the Mavs will likely have some sluggish bouts, but they could come out on top.

The schedule:
Fri. 1/11 @ Seattle
Sat. 1/12 @ LA Clippers
Mon. 1/14 @Sacramento
Sat. 1/19 vs. Seattle
Mon. 1/21 @Washington
Wed. 1/23 @Charlotte

A look at how things might go:

Three reasons why this trip might not turn out badly

1. The teams they are playing have a combined record of 62-104 and are weak enough that the Mavs should be able to take care of them without problem.
2. Even though they play five of their next six on the road, the home game is the fourth in that series. Even better, that game comes after a four-day rest between games. Any batteries that need recharging will get a lot of time to do so.
3. They play five different teams over these six games. The Mavs have won a combined 25 straight games against four of those teams. They have won 10 straight against the Sonics six straight against the Kings, 3 straight against the Clippers and have won all six meetings in the Bobcats existence. History says they should beat most of these teams.

Three reasons why this trip could be bad news

1. The Mavs will start the trip with back-to-back games in Seattle and Los Angeles. Getting off the plane at some ghastly hour of the morning in Los Angeles will likely take its toll on them, despite playing a poor team like the Sonics the night before. It's possible they could get burnt out of the gates and not recover.
2. That's almost 7,000 miles of flight over a week-and-a-half span. Travel is one thing, but after awhile, all that flying has to grate on you, especially when you're going coast-to-coast and changing climates like that.
3. It may look like they have a full day off in between the home game against Seattle and the road game against Washington, but the game against the Wizards starts at noon on Monday. That means that the Mavs will have to travel on Sunday and be up early on Monday. The early start coupled with the travel from the day before could slow them down and carry over into the final game of the trip in Charlotte.
   

-Scooter Hendon, Hoops Nerd