The Dallas Mavericks are currently in an all-out race for positioning out West. Right now, the play-in tournament has become a daunting reality for the Mavs, which has prompted Luka Doncic to somewhat refute his earlier criticism of the NBA's mini-tournament format.

Doncic previously stated that he does not understand the point of playing 72 games to make the playoffs, then how a team could be eliminated entirely after losing just two games. Well, the Mavs are in danger of heading down this exact path right now, and for Doncic, it looks like he has been left with no choice but to soften his stance on the hot topic:

“If you want to win a championship, you've got to beat everybody, so I think we'll go from there,” Doncic said, via Tomer Barzani of SI.com.

Perfectly true. And it's not as if Doncic and the Mavs can do anything about the NBA's format anyway.

Right now, the Mavs are sitting at the fifth spot in the West with a 41-29 record. However, the seventh-seeded Los Angeles Lakers are just one game behind them, so at this point, it is still very much possible that the Mavs end up at seventh. If this happens then Dallas will face the eighth seed in the play-in tournament. The Golden State Warriors and the Memphis Grizzlies are currently tied with an identical record for the eighth spot.

The good news for Doncic and Co. is that they hold their fate in their own hands. If they win their two remaining games then they're safe. Otherwise, they're going to have to take the long way to the postseason.