Dallas Mavericks are a relatively young team headlined by Luka Doncic. Their defeat in Gm 3 of the Western Conference Finals may have hurt their chances to make it in the NBA Finals as they went down 3-0.
Head coach Jason Kidd reflected on the Mavericks’ experience, claiming that no one expected Dallas to make the Conference Finals this season. The Mavs started the season slow, but they quickly turn it around since February.
However, there were not considered the favorites to make it out of the West despite beating the top-seeded Phoenix Suns in the second round. Kidd was on a reflective mood after Gm 3 loss.
“I know you guys had us winning the championship before the season started,” Kidd said jokingly. “But this is a lot bigger than just this one game or this series. This is huge for our franchise because none of you guys had us here. You guys are all supposed to be on vacation.”
“It’s cool to go through this. And we’re going against, you can call it a dynasty. I saw this in San Antonio. This is a great lesson learned for us. This isn’t the end. This is just the beginning of the journey. And we’ll be ready to go for Game 4.”
Obviously, the Mavericks would rather not end the season with a sweep, even if it’s against the Golden State Warriors in the Conference Finals. The Warriors swept their opponents the last time they were at the same stage, back in 2019.
“Nobody had us being here in the conference finals. I think the Warriors are playing incredible,” Doncic said. “Everybody knows their role. Everybody stays together. They’ve been together for a lot and they’re playing great basketball. These past three games have been really difficult.”
Nobody has ever recovered, and only a handful of teams that lose the first three games have rallied to force a Game 7. Portland did it against the Mavericks in 2011. Doncic scored 40 points but never got it going shooting 13 of-45 from the field.
Jalen Brunson added 20 and Spencer Dinwiddie put up 26 in his best during these series. The Mavs were not able to get close to the basket and score, as the Warriors blitzed their paint and stopped Doncic from creating easy offense for himself and his teammates.
“It’s tough. They’re collapsing a lot in the paint,” Doncic said. “Sometimes, they’re just making us shoot threes. Every time I drive, I see a lot of players in the paint. It’s tough.”
Shooting also did not help as Dallas found many open threes, but they could not make them on a high clip shooting just 28 percent from deep. Reggie Bullock was 0-for-10 from the field and Maxi Kleber shot 0-for-5.
The Mavericks will try to avoid the sweep Tuesday night in front of the Dallas faithful.
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