Dallas Mavericks’ playoff woes have plagued team since 2011 title. What must change?
.jpg "Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic celebrates a basket during a 51-point rout of the Clippers in Los Angeles back in December. The Mavs will start return there for the start of the playoffs on Saturday.. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)")
Fate is a four-letter word.
It’s tangled up in all sorts of everyday verbiage, so much so that it’s become something of a cliché. But in 2011, under the shadow of Reunion Tower in Dallas, fate was a word that ricocheted off the sidewalks and into the ears of fans following the Mavericks’ upset of the Miami Heat for the NBA title.
The Mavericks didn’t have a prayer, they said. The Heat trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh — the first season of “The Heatles” — were destined to be the last team standing. At least that’s what they said at time.
But behind the gritty, gutsy play of Dirk Nowitzki and a strong supporting cast that included wily veterans like Jason Terry, Jason Kidd and Shawn Marion, the Mavericks knocked off the Heat. In doing so, the Mavericks became the first team in NBA history to come into Game 3 tied at one, lose, and still win in six games.
Call it fate.
But there’s another four-letter word that has followed the Mavericks in the playoffs over the past few years.
Lose.
Winning the title over the Heat was last time Dallas won a playoff series. And the simple fact remains that Dallas hasn’t witnessed anything remotely close to that championship season; the Mavs were ousted in first-round playoff series in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020.
So what needs to change in order for them to experience postseason life beyond the first round?
The dismantling of a title team and beyond
The first domino fell after the decision was made to not bring back the same winning roster that took home the Larry O’Brien trophy and instead “opted to bring in players with shorter contracts, allowing them financial flexibility going forward,” Bleacher Report said. The reason here being implications of the new collective bargaining agreement, owner Mark Cuban told ESPN.
“If you want to nail me for something, I’ll be the first to admit that it was a huge [expletive] that I didn’t fight for the new [collective bargaining agreement] harder,” Cuban said in 2012. “I said it before. I’ll say it again. It put us and other teams in a bad spot, and it was an overnight handshake deal that I should have fought harder. I’m the first to say that.”
Out went Tyson Chandler, J.J. Barea, Caron Butler, DeShawn Stevenson. And in came Brandan Wright, Vince Carter, Lamar Odom and more. The defending champs went 36-30 and sat in the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference. They were knocked out by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the 2012 playoffs.
After missing the 2012-13 NBA postseason, the Mavericks stuck their toe back in the playoff pool in the following three years, only to be snuffed out in the first round by the San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and Thunder, again.
A rookie shall lead them
When Dallas once more reached the playoffs for the first time since nabbing the steal of the 2018 NBA Draft — Slovenian prodigy Luka Doncic — it was in the middle of the global COVID-19 pandemic that changed, well, everything in 2020.
While the Mavs were taken down by the Clippers, Doncic made noise in his first playoff appearance — at 21 years old — by way of a clutch shot on a bum ankle during Game 4 of the series.
Even though the Mavs lost the series in front of a nonexistent Orlando bubble crowd, fans started to register another four letter word: hope.
What needs to change
Dallas is looking for revenge against the Clippers after securing the No. 5 seed in the West and if they even have a sliver of a shot at making it out if the first round alive, there are a few things they need to focus on. Game 1 is Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles.
Steal one on the road
The Mavericks need to win one of the first two games in L.A. to have a realistic chance in the series.
They’ve proven they can beat the Clippers in L.A. In December, the Mavericks jumped out to a 77-27 halftime lead en route to a 51-point victory, which represents the worst loss in Clippers’ history. It should be noted that Clippers superstar and two-time NBA champ Kawhi Leonard did not play for L.A.
Dallas also had success on the road this season, going 21-15.
Feed off crowd energy
Clearly, this applies to Games 3 and 4, which will be in front of the crowd at the American Airlines Center, marking the first time Dallas will be able to witness playoff Doncic in front of actual faces. Cuban has permission to allow at least 9,000 fans into each game, something that both Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis can use to their advantage.
“Experiencing the playoffs for the first time even without fans was incredible in the bubble,” Porzingis told the Dallas Morning News. “So we’re really looking forward to this year, having some fans back and trying to play our best basketball and show it in the playoffs.”
Keep Luka’s temper in check
Teams are vividly aware how to needle at that now-famous Luka temperament, and to use his outbursts to their advantages. Even though he finished off the regular season with the NBA’s sixth-highest scoring average (27.7 points per game), the wunderkind had 15 technical fouls. While the meter resets that count at the start of the postseason, his temper can prove to be a beast, and Doncic must contain it – especially if he finds himself disagreeing with officials.
Or when going toe-to-toe with his former playoff nemesis, Marcus Morris.
Sure, Doncic said everything that went down with Morris stepping on the back of Luka’s ankle last year is in firmly in the past and that the Clippers forward has apologized to him, according to ESPN, attitudes are still something that needs to be kept in check.
He’ll also need to keep an eye on Rajon Rondo.
Porzingis as the X-factor
Thursday morning on 105.3 The Fan, Carlisle expressed how important it is to have a healthy Porzingis back for the entire series.
“Well, it’s very important to us. And I think the last three games of the season that he played are pretty indicative of his importance to our team,” Carlisle said. “You know, he had a great game against New Orleans, he was really good against Toronto. And we didn’t play well as a team against Minnesota a couple nights ago, but he shot the ball well, and I’m looking at how he’s moving and how he’s getting into his stance and that kind of stuff, and we see good signs.”
Shut down Kawhi Leonard (duh)
Leonard absolutely obliterated the Mavs in the playoffs last year, with 29 points or more for all six games. The Mavs couldn’t slow him down so it will be their No. 1 concern this time around. That task will likely land on Dorian Finney-Smith’s shoulders.
It was Maxi Kleber who started and was used as the primary defender on Leonard up until Porzingis went down during the last playoff showdown, but Kleber’s playoff availability is in jeopardy due to Achilles soreness.
“He’s very important,” Carlisle said according to SB Nation. “He’s one of our top two or three defenders. We’re doing everything possible to get him ready here. We hope Mother Nature is as cooperative to the extent she can be. He’s been doing a lot of work with his rehab. Casey [Smith] and Dionne [Calhoun] have been doing a lot of work with him as well. We’ll proceed and hope for the best.”
This story was originally published May 19, 2021 at 4:09 PM with the headline "Dallas Mavericks’ playoff woes have plagued team since 2011 title. What must change?."