Dallas Mavericks Look To Bring Home 2nd NBA Title
For all but two teams, the NBA season is over. For most, their season ended weeks ago, already shifting their focus to the offseason, while some remained fighting, hoping for a chance to play for an NBA Title. The field was quickly cut from 16 teams to eight, and from eight to four, and now, for just the third time in franchise history, the Dallas Mavericks are Western Conference champions and looking to become NBA Finals Champions for just the second time ever.
The path to the Finals is always a difficult one, but for the 5 Seed Mavericks, there’s was especially tough. During their road to this point, Dallas became the first team since the 2010 Lakers to beat three 50+ win teams on their path to the Finals.
Coincidentally, it was also the Boston Celtics who the Lakers would face that year, after knocking out three 50+ win teams in the first three rounds. While it would take Kobe Bryant and his Lakers seven games to do so, they would eventually defeat Boston and take home the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Tonight, Luka Doncic and Co. look to begin their journey to do the exact same thing, but before they do, let’s take a quick second to exam their road to this point.
Mavericks Road To The Finals
The regular season was a roller coaster for the Mavericks, filled with really high-high’s and arguably some equally low-low’s. Dallas opened the season winning eight of their first 10 games, looking like a team who was finally ready to take that next step, but that pace wouldn’t last for long.
By the middle of January, the Mavericks found themselves at 24-20, just four games over .500 and looking like a team who may struggle to secure a Top 6 seed and a sure spot in the Western Conference playoffs. The turning point came in the beginning of February, when General Manager Nico Harrison made a pair of trades, adding talent he thought would perfectly fit around his star players in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
The back-to-back trades Dallas made brought in forward PJ Washington from the Charlotte Hornets and big man Daniel Gafford from the Washington Wizards and immediately turned the momentum around. The Mavericks won seven consecutive games, getting themselves back to 10 games over .500 and looking to be one of the top seeds in the West.
After coming back to Earth a bit, Dallas would once again go on an impressive run, this time to end the season and secure their playoff spot. The Mavericks picked up 16 wins in an 18-game stretch from March 7 to April 10, firing on all cylinders and going into the postseason with the momentum they would need to make a deep playoff run.
As the No. 5 seed, once they got to the playoffs they knew their road would be tough. They would be the underdog in every series and be the road team in each series, but they didn’t let that slow them down at all.
Arguably their toughest series so far has been the opening round against the 4 Seed Los Angeles Clippers, a team who they have had a bit of a rivalry with in the past. After a tough 109-97 loss in the series opener, the Mavericks took control of the series, winning back-to-back games, one of which by double-digits and putting themselves in the driver seat.
The Clippers were able to even the series up with a close 116-11 win, but oddly enough, they may not have been the team to take the momentum from that game. Despite falling short, the Mavericks found themselves down by as much as 51-24 at one point, before putting on an incredible comeback and making it a close game.
Dallas used that momentum to answer back in Game 5 with a huge 30-point win of their own, before putting the series away with a 114-101 win in Game 6. With their first box checked on the road to the finals, it was time to travel to Oklahoma City to face the No. 1 seed Thunder.
Much like Game 1 of the opening round, Dallas dropped the ball to open the Western Conference Semifinals. Despite playing 41 minutes, Doncic was only able to score 19 points on 6-19 shooting and it was Irving who led the way with 20 points in the 117-95 blowout loss.
Much like the opening round though, Dallas didn’t panic. Instead, they rode the momentum of back-to-back career performances from PJ Washington, who led the team with 29 points in Game 2 and another 27 points in Game 3, leading the Mavericks to back-to-back wins and taking a 2-1 lead in the series.
The script continued to remain the same as the previous series with OKC evening up the series in Game 4, before the Mavericks would once again take Games 5 and 6, winning the series 4-2 and advancing to the Western Conference Finals.
Despite answering every previous challenged they had been faced with, the outside experts still weren’t giving Dallas the benefit of the doubt. Now paired up with the No. 3 seed Minnesota Timberwolves, the Mavericks would once again have to prove the naysayers wrong.
This time, Dallas took control of the series immediately. Despite trailing 102-98 with just 3:37 left to go in Game 1, the Mavericks held Minnesota to just three points in the final three minutes, and pulled off the comeback, winning the game 108-105 and showing the world how the rest of the series would go.
The key to success for Dallas this entire playoff run has been just keeping it close late in games. With two of the leagues best closers in Doncic and Irving, and a defense who remains calm under pressure, the Mavericks have rarely lost in the close ones.
They would prove this once again in Game 2 of the series, when they picked up arguably the most electric win the franchise has seen in over a decade. Once again it was close late, and this time, Dallas had the ball, down two, with 11 seconds to go.
Head coach Jason Kidd put the ball in his superstars hands, and let him dictate what would happen next. Doncic received a screen from rookie center Dereck Lively, which forced Minnesota big man Rudy Gobert to switch over to Doncic.
Doncic caught the big man on skates immediately, breaking right, before breaking left, almost forcing Gobert to fall over. Once getting him completely out of position, the Slovenian star stepped back behind the 3-point line and knocked down the game-winning shot with just three seconds on the clock, giving the Mavericks the 109-108 win, and putting them up 2-0 in the series.
Now, fully in control of the series and playing a young, inexperienced Timberwolves team, the Mavericks would ride their momentum back home to the AAC, taking Game 3 by a score of 116-107. They would fall just short of the series sweep in Game 4, but were more than prepared to take care of business in Game 5.
With the series in their grasp, and a chance to eliminate Minnesota on their home court, the Mavericks came out like a team on a mission in Game 5. Doncic outscored the Timberwolves himself in the opening frame, putting up 20 points and helping Dallas build a 35-19 lead.
While there were still three quarters of basketball left, the game was already over, with Dallas only getting stronger and the Timberwolves visibly looking defeated. The Mavericks kept their foot on the gas in the second quarter and broke the game open even more, taking a 69-40 lead at the end of the first half.
Minnesota was able to cut into the deficit a bit, outscoring the Mavericks in both the third and fourth quarters, but the damage was more than done, as the Mavericks would go on to win in comfortable fashion, beating the Timberwolves 124-103, and advancing to the NBA Finals for just the third time in franchise history.
Celtics’ Road To The Finals
Already awaiting Dallas in the NBA Finals were the winners of the Eastern Conference, the 64-win Boston Celtics. Led by the dynamic duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Boston has had their eyes set on the Larry O’Brien trophy all year long.
Their road to the Finals can best be described as the exact opposite of the Mavericks. Boston has been the heavy favorite in every series they’ve been in so far, and they have yet to find themselves in any real danger.
In the opening round Boston went up agains the 8 Seed Miami Heat, who were without the star player Jimmy Butler. The Celtics made quick work of them, beating them in five games, with all of their wins coming by 14 points or more.
In the second round, Boston was paired with the 4 Seed Cleveland Cavaliers, a team who was just two wins better than the 8 Seed Heat. After splitting the first two games of the series, Boston went on to sweep the next three games, not even having to face Cleveland’s star Donovan Mitchell in two of them.
The script would remain the same, even in the Eastern Conference Finals, as Boston would be matched up with Rick Carlisle and the 47-win Indiana Pacers. The Pacers went into Game 1 and were almost able to steal a win on the road, forcing overtime before giving the game away in the closing minutes.
Boston went on to take Game 2 126-110, before having to travel to Indiana. Already down 2-0 and now without their star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, the series was all but over. Indiana gave the Celtics everything they had, and played them very close in both games, but Boston won a pair of close ones, winning 114-111 and 105-102 to complete the four-game sweep.
NBA Finals Preview
While their roads to this point may have been drastically different, both the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks both find themselves in the NBA Finals all the same. Boston played the role of the front runner all year long, being the No. 1 team in the entire league and making quick work of everybody put in their way.
The Mavericks on the other hand, went through multiple up’s and down’s and even needed a pair of trades at the deadline to get their roster to a strong enough point to secure a playoff spot. Once they were in the playoffs, they were never once considered the team who should win the series, but they never let that bother them, also, taking down everyone in their path.
While they may have a number of differences, they two teams share some similarities as well. Offensively, it’s been the duo of Doncic and Irving who have led the way for Dallas, averaging a combined 51.6 points per game and 14 assists per game.
The Celtics are also led by a dynamic offensive duo in Tatum and Brown, who have also averaged a combined 51 points per game, with a combined 8.5 assists per game.
Both teams have also proven themselves defensively, with the Celtics have the second-best defensive rating in their entire league throughout the regular season. While it took the Mavericks a lot longer to find their identity defensively, it has proven to be a huge strength for them as well, improving their defensive rating from 114.9 in the regular season to an impressive 111.1 in the postseason.
The two teams also have one more very big thing in common, with each of them having a former star from the other team. For Dallas, it’s guard Kyrie Irving, who was a Celtic for two years in the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons and was brought in to be the veteran star to try to help young duo of Tatum and Brown get their first taste of winning.
For Boston, it’s the Latvian big man Kristaps Porzingis, who was also a Maverick for two-and-a half seasons from 2019-2022. Porzingis was one of the final big projects constructed under Donnie Nelson and Co. and their first real attempt at trying to pair a star next to the young Doncic.
While the duo definitely worked on paper, that same success just never translated on the floor. Porzingis put up a formiddable 20.3 points per game in his time in Dallas, while grabbing 8.8 points per game.
While those numbers weren’t bad by any means, the duo struggled to find their footing. Porzingis was largely asked to be a stretch-four who shot the long ball well, tho he shot just 34.7% from behind the arc and was largely being misused.
In another universe, Irving’s time in Boston and Porzingis’ time in Dallas may have both led to success and championships. But in this universe, both were considered failures and ended poorly and abruptly.
Now, one of them will be an NBA Champion with their new team. It’s just a matter of which one will be celebrating on a parade float in the coming weeks.
Arguably the Mavericks biggest strength this postseason has been their versatility. They don’t have any one way to win basketball games.
Some nights, they thrive behind the three-point line. Some night’s they look like the Lob City Clippers teams of the 2010’s, running pick and roll’s and throwing alley-oop after alley-oop in transition.
Another huge strength for the Mavericks has been their young big-man duo of Lively and Gafford. In the postseason the two have combined to average 17.8 points and 13.1 rebounds per game, along with three blocks per game.
Dallas has also gotten huge contributions from their forward tandem of Washington and Derrick Jones Jr, who get the job done of both ends of the floor. The duo plays lockdown defense on opposing forwards and also combine to add another 23.4 points per game, acting as the third and fourth leading scorers for the Mavericks this postseason.
Dallas has a very tough task ahead of them, but one they may just be capable of accomplishing. Just like every series before this one, the Mavericks are listed as the underdog, this time by a pretty big margin.
As could be expected, Boston is the betting favorite in Game 1, being listed as 6.5-point favorites. Despite their 12-2 playoff record, the Celtics have struggled to live up to expectations, going just 7-7 against the spread.
Dallas, on the other hand, have been the best team in the postseason in that same category, racking up an 11-6 record against the spread, consistently “exceeding” the exceptions set for them by the oddsmakers.
Game 1
All the talking is finally over, now there’s nothing left to do but to find the comfiest place (or the place you’re most comfortable acting like an insane person) and watch. Tonight’s Game 1 is set for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff and will air on ABC.
Obviously whoever takes the opening game of the series will feel as if they have gained a huge advantage, but win or lose, it will take a full four wins to take home the Larry O’Brien trophy.
The rest of the series is set for:
Game 2 In Boston: Sunday, June 9 @ 7 p.m. on ABC
Game 3 In Dallas: Wednesday, June 12 @ 7:30 p.m. on ABC
Game 4 In Dallas: Friday, June 14 @ 7:30 p.m. on ABC
Game 5 In Boston: Monday, June 17 @ 7:30 p.m. on ABC (If Necessary)
Game 6 In Dallas: Thursday, June 20 @ 7:30 p.m. on ABC (If Necessary)
Game 7 In Boston: Sunday, June 23 @ 7 p.m. on ABC (IF Necessary)
For game recaps and updates on the series and on the Dallas Mavericks, stay tuned to Front Porch News.
