The Dallas Mavericks duped us — some worse than others. But I can’t imagine many escaped the okie doke Dallas has pulled off in these playoffs. What okie doke, you ask? Let me explain.
Without trying to speak for everyone outside of Dallas, I think it’s safe to assume many NBA fans and bettors had a reasonable read on the Mavs coming into these playoffs. They were good, not great. Their first round win over the Utah Jazz was as much about Utah as it was about them.
It wasn’t until the Mavericks stunned the reigning Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns in the second round that we were forced to question that logic and think maybe, just maybe, Dallas was actually on to something.
As it turns out, we were right the first time.
We knew Dallas was a one-man show with an ascending second scoring option and a wild card bucket-getter on the bench. We also knew the surrounding pieces were mostly perimeter shooters with otherwise limited offensive abilities. And we knew, as a team, they played pretty good defense. We thought that meant they could maybe win a series but wouldn’t go very far.
They were underdogs in their first round series against the Jazz despite finishing one spot ahead of Utah in the regular season standings. That was partly because Luka Doncic was hobbled. And even knowing that, I still thought they could win. That prediction was less about Dallas, however, and more about Utah’s shoddy play entering the playoffs and typical unreliability this time of year.
The second round is where Dallas’ own deficiencies were supposed to prove fatal. And for the first two games in Phoenix, it appeared to be heading that way. But then, the Mavs won four of the next five games to move on, and that’s when everything we knew came into question. Is this Mavericks team better than we thought? Did we underrate its supporting cast? Can they actually beat the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals?
With each passing game, it’s looking like the answer to those questions is a resounding “no!” I didn’t pick the Mavs to win this series, but I at least gave them a chance to win a couple games. Now, I’m beginning to question whether they’ll win a game after falling to 0-3 with Monday’s loss.
It seems Dallas’ win over the Suns was similar to the team’s win over Utah in that it likely had as much to do with issues on the other team – Deandre Ayton was benched, Chris Paul was hurt, Devin Booker was a no-show. That’s not to say the Mavericks aren’t good. But they just aren’t any better than we originally thought they were. The Warriors are making that very clear.
