Mavericks’ voyage begins in familiar waters

By David Mullen

At the end of the 2022-23 NBA season, the Dallas Mavericks lost five of their last six games and nine of their last 11 in hopes of an improved position in the NBA Draft. They finished the season 38-44 and out of the playoffs. The NBA took notice and fined the Mavericks $750,000 for “tanking,” or in league jargon, “conduct detrimental to the league.” Mavs fans felt jilted.

At the end of the 2023-24 NBA season, the Mavericks lost their last two games by a combined 67 points. But they were resting their top players, went into the final two games winning 11 of 12 and had secured the fifth playoff position in the deep and powerful Western Conference. The NBA took notice, and the Mavs are a feared team entering the second season. Mavs fans feel thrilled.

How good was the Western Conference in 2023-24? The 10th seeded Golden State Warriors, eliminated by the Sacramento Kings in the NBA Play-In Game on April 16, finished the regular season with a 46-36 record, the best record by a 10th place conference team in NBA history.

At .500, the Houston Rockets didn’t even qualify for the playoffs. If they were in the Eastern Conference, they would have finished with the ninth best record and made the playoffs. Five teams, including the Mavericks, finished with a better than .600 winning percentage in the West. Yet the No. 1 seed, the Oklahoma City Thunder, finished just 11 games ahead of the 10th place Warriors, with eight quality teams in between.

In head-to-head regular season competition against the Eastern Conference, the West won by 70 games. That’s how good the Western Conference was in 2023-24. Now the Mavericks embark in a playoff run to show the NBA how the West is won. 

Dallas’ first round opponent is the No. 4 seed Los Angeles Clippers, a familiar playoff foe. The Mavericks and Clippers will match up on Sunday, April 21 at 2:30 p.m. in Los Angeles in a best of seven first round matchup in the Western Conference playoffs. 

It will be the third time in the last five years the Mavericks and Clippers have tangled in the first round. The Clippers won the last two playoff series. The Mavericks have different plans. They are a different team.

From November 10  through December 20, the Mavs and Clippers played three times. The Mavs went 1-2. But the Dallas squad that Los Angeles will face looks much different than the late 2023 team. The Mavs added starters P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford to improve their front court to go with the unstoppable backcourt duo of serious NBA MVP candidate Luka Doncic and his inspired teammate Kyrie Irving.

The Clippers are like a Jaguar sports car: great to look at, expensive and very unreliable. LA is the Sybil of NBA teams. The  Clippers have Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, James Harden and Russell Westbrook. That team may win in NBA 2K24, but basketball isn’t played with a joystick. 

One game, the Clippers are confident and poised, and the next game they are hysterically unstable. Coach Tyronn Lue must have a couch in his office. This team never seems to play as a team. The adage “there is only one basketball” applies to the Clippers more than any other NBA team. With Leonard (who hasn’t played since March 31 with knee inflammation), George, Harden and Westbrook, the Clippers have never met a basketball they didn’t like to shoot.

For a stretch, the Clippers were unstoppable. Midseason, LA won 14 of 16 games. But they couldn’t maintain their success and frustrated fans down the stretch, settling for a midlevel playoff spot. From his seat on the floor, team owner and Apple co-founder Steve Ballmer’s face was as red as an iPhone 14.     

In 54 seasons as the Buffalo Braves — where have you gone Bob McAdoo and Ernie DiGregorio? — and the San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers, the Clippers have never won an NBA championship. This team, with a loaded roster but little team chemistry, appears ready for another playoff season in drydock.  

When Doncic sees the LA Clippers, it’s like he walks into his favorite restaurant. He can’t wait to order. In 18 career games versus the Clippers, Doncic is averaging 32.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.4 assists, which is the most against any NBA team except for the Detroit Pistons. Playing the Clippers is like putting a serving of potato moussaka in front of Doncic. 

For the Mavericks to win, head coach Jason Kidd has one main responsibility: get the Mavericks to play relentless defense, something they have done since acquiring Washington and Gafford in trades on February 9. Since the trade, the Mavs are 22-9 including the two throwaway losses to end the season.

The Mavericks are on a roll. The Clippers appear to be a rudderless ship. The Mavericks will win in six games, and the dogfight through the talented Western Conference will continue.