Dallas Mavericks on brink of elimination after lacking fight, hunger against Warriors
The end of the road is near for the Dallas Mavericks.
History says so. The talent says so. And so does the coaching.
After Sunday’s 109-100 setback to Golden Stater Warriors at the American Airlines Center, what else is there to say?
The Mavs are now down 3-0 in the Western Conference Finals of the NBA playoffs.
No team in NBA history has ever rallied from a 3-0 hole. Three teams have come back to tie the series only to lose in Game 7.
Mavs coach Jason Kidd understands as much is already trying to stress the big picture.
“This is a lot bigger than one game or one series,” Kidd said after the game in a tone that more about pride than dejection. “This is huge for our franchise [being in Western Conference Finals]. None of you had us here. This is cool to go through this. This isn’t the end, it’s the beginning of the journey. We’ll be ready to go in Game 4.”
So this one is essentially over and everyone knows it. It could come as soon as Game 4 on Tuesday night at the AAC.
Never mind that the Mavs rallied from a 2-0 hole to beat the Phoenix Suns in a seven-game series in the Western Conference semifinals.
The Warriors are not the Suns.
And the Mavs simply have no fight left in them.
The Mavs should be proud of what they accomplished in 2022, making the playoffs as the fourth seed and winning a playoff series for the first time since their lone title season of 2011.
They actually won two and have let the NBA know they are a team to be reckoned with the future with perhaps the league’s best player heading into next season and 2023 MVP front-runner Luke Doncic.
Doncic led the way with 40 points and remains the leading scorer in the NBA playoffs.
And there is no shame in losing to the Warriors, with three titles on their resume since Mavs won 2011 and two-time MVP Stephen Curry still in his prime.
But the Mavs are on the brink of being swept out the playoffs not just because they were overwhelmed by Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins and a deep roster.
Curry led five Warriors in double figures with 31 points. Wiggins had 27. And Thompson had 19.
The shame of it is that a younger and seemingly hungrier Mavericks team got out-hustled, out-fought, out-rebounded and out-executed by the supposed fat cat Warriors.
The Warriors and all their championship pedigree simply wanted it more with more floor burns and and second chance points.
“They have won championships,” Mavs guard Spencer Dinwiddie said. “They have played a high level. We didn’t respond.”
The Warriors won the rebounding battle 47-33 and had whopping 18-4 edge in second chance points.
That shouldn’t happen.
But it did Sunday night beginning in the second quarter when the Warrior rallied from a nine-point deficit to take a 48-47 lead at halftime.
And when the Warriors used a patented third-quarter run to lead by as many as 14 before taking a 76-68 advantage into the fourth, the game was all but over.
Golden State simply took the Mavs’ soul by out-hustling, out-shooting and out-rebounding them.
Might the toll of the playoffs and the seven-game series against the Suns be wearing on the Mavs?
“I don’t think its fatigue,” Doncic said. “The rebounds an second chance points are a big problems in the series. That is making a big difference.”
Dallas coach Jason Kidd shockingly called two timeouts in the third quarter. It didn’t matter.
The Mavs kept the score respectable in the fourth when Doncic scored 21 points of his 40 points but it was too much of a hill to climb in what was a must-win game from the outset.
Dallas is now 2-6 when Doncic scores more than points in the playoffs in his career.
He also had 42 in the Game 2 loss.
He admits he must find a brilliance between his brilliance and getting his teammates involved. Dinwiddie had 26 points and Jalen Brunson had 20 but they both played their best win Doncic was resting.
No other Dallas player scored in double figures.
“I’m still learning,” Doncic said. “I think after this season is done, whenever we are, I’m going to look back and learn a lot of things. This is my first conference finals in NBA. I’m 23, man. I’m still learning a lot.”
Dallas was already down 2-0 in the series after blowing a 19-point lead in Game 2. History said that teams that go up 2-0 in a best-of-seven series go on to win the series 92.2% (307-of-333) of the time.
Yes, Dallas overcame a 2-0 hole in its previous series against Phoenix.
And they had not lost a Game 3 in the playoffs and were 5-1 at home in the previous two series against the Utah and the Suns.
But again, the Warriors aren’t the Suns.
They know how to win.
And they still have the hunger and fight to win.
That is what Dallas lacked Sunday night.
But they are learning.
“No one had us being here,” Doncic said. “The Warriors are playing incredible. They have been together. They are playing great basketball. It is not over yet.”
This story was originally published May 22, 2022 at 10:53 PM.
