Three action items for the Mavericks with a playoff berth on the line against the Memphis Grizzlies

Own the paint, don’t get owned by Ja Morant and Desmond Bane and Dallas can make it out of the Play-In Tournament.

The Dallas Mavericks and the Memphis Grizzlies met four times in the regular season, but none of those games can really be used as a template for the Mavs’ best path to victory Friday at the Fedex Forum, when the two meet a fifth time, this time to decide who gets out of the Play-In Tournament and subsequently fed to the Oklahoma City Thunder as the 8-seed in the Western Conference Playoffs. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Dallas and Memphis split the two games that still featured Luka Dončić in a Mavericks uniform before the New Year, then Anthony Davis was injured for the third meeting and the most recent meeting was on Sunday, the last day of the regular season. Both squads were shorthanded in that one due to injuries and/or rest, and the Grizzlies beat the Mavs down, 132-97 at home.

So what are we looking at here? What is the Mavericks’ path to becoming the first-ever team to escape the Play-In Tournament as the 10-seed?

True to form

The Mavericks are what they are at this point — a very large team still working its way toward becoming the paint-dominating defensive juggernaut the general manager swears up and down he’s created. In the Grizzlies’ 122-111 win over the Mavericks in March and without Davis’ services, Memphis lit Dallas up in the paint to the tune of 74-38. In the most recent matchup, the Grizzlies killed the Mavs in just about every statistical category except paint points, where Memphis held a more modest 68-62 advantage.

Dallas needs to play to its strength at Memphis this time around and dominate the interior to escape Play-In purgatory. That means the three-headed monster of Davis, Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford have to, not neutralize, but grind Jaren Jackson Jr. into a smooth paste. They need to abuse him like they did Domantas Sabonis in Wednesday’s 120-106 win at the Sacramento Kings.

Jackson Jr. comes into the matchup averaging 19.1 points and six rebounds per game in 15 games against the Mavericks in his young career, just slightly better than his career average in those departments, but in his last five, he’s caught fire against Dallas. He comes into the playoff clincher averaging 25.2 points and seven rebounds per game in his last five against Dallas.

It’s time for the allegedly incredible defense that Nico Harrison has assembled to put up in what is technically a big game despite the air of indifference toward the team currently coursing through large swaths of the Mavs’ fanbase. Put up, that is, or shut up and pack it in for the summer.

Exodus — movement of Ja’s ankle

Here’s hoping that Bob Marley reference lands, and here’s also hoping the Mavs can contain the Grizzlies’ best player, Ja Morant. He scored 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting but turned the ball over five times in Tuesday’s loss to the Golden State Warriors. He had to leave the game after turning an ankle late in the third quarter, but came back in early in the fourth and finished the game on the floor. He did look limited when he came back in, though.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported Thursday that Morant did not practice with the team and would be considered a game-time decision against the Mavericks. But his fourth-quarter return, combined with two full days’ rest before meeting the Mavs, leads us to believe he’ll ultimately be available.

“I’m playing,” Morant told reporters in the televised postgame press conference following Tuesday’s loss to Golden State. Grizzlies interim coach Tuomas Iisalo sounded hopeful, according to reports, but not quite as confident as Morant himself.

“If he feels he’s good to go, we have full trust in him,” Iisalo told the Commercial Appeal. “He’s also a very good judge of how and if he’s ready to go or not. I’m leaning on the experts in this situation, which clearly I’m not in the medical department.”

The Bane of Dallas’ Play-In existence

Photo by Tim Heitman/NBAE via Getty Images

If Morant is somehow unable to go or limited in any way on Friday, the playmaking burden will shift significantly onto the plate of another budding Mavs Killer, Desmond Bane. The sharpshooting playmaker out of TCU scored 30 in Tuesday’s loss to the Warriors on 5-of-8 from 3-point range.

His career numbers have always been elevated against Dallas, his 17.8 points per game average inflating to 21.1 in 16 games against the Mavs. He also grabs 5.6 boards against Dallas, a full rebound higher than his 4.6 career mark. In his last 10 against the Mavericks, Bane has averaged 24.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and five assists per game. It’s safe to say that he gets up for these games.

With the injuries in the Dallas backcourt (primarily, yes, the season-ending one to Kyrie Irving’s knee), Memphis appears to have the clear advantage in guard play in this matchup. Can the Mavericks make up for it with defense and domination in the paint? Can they at least make it more competitive than the 35-point margin the last time around?

Or is this all just a waste of time?

How to watch

The Mavericks and the Grizzlies are scheduled to tip off at 8:30 p.m. CDT on Friday at the Fedex Forum. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN.