At 3-14 through Wednesday, the Dallas Mavericks have the league's worst record, in part due to injuries. Dirk Nowitzki has played just five of the team's games, while Deron Williams, J.J. Barea and Devin Harris have all missed at least five games as well.

But the Mavericks have also been done no favors by their schedule. They've played the league's toughest schedule to date, with 10 of their 17 games having been against teams that currently hold winning records and 12 of the 17 against teams that rank in the top 10 in either offensive or defensive efficiency. The Mavs played 10 of their first 15 games on the road, and their last game of November was at home against the team -- San Antonio -- that's now 11-0 on the road.

Things aren't going to get much easier in December. The Mavs do have their first extended homestand of the season, a four-game, seven-day stay that begins Saturday. But they still have one of the league's toughest December schedules, with more road games (9) than home games (8) and five back-to-backs.

Dallas concludes 2016 with six of seven games on the road and what is, essentially, the toughest game on any team's schedule. Their visit to Golden State on Dec. 30 will be their fourth game in five nights (a stretch that starts in New Orleans and ends in Oakland), and the Warriors will have had the prior day off.

That one game against a team that's 16-2 distorts the cumulative winning percentage of the Mavs' December opponents (0.530) a little bit. They may be able to climb out of the bottom five in offensive efficiency with eight games (tied for most in the league) against teams that currently rank in the bottom 10 defensively. But the Mavs will have to wait until January to see some real schedule relief, and at that point, it may be too late.

Here's a breakdown of the December schedules for all 15 teams in the Western Conference...