The Dallas Mavericks are making their third appearance in the NBA Finals in franchise history in 2024 after defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals in five games. The Mavericks entered the 2024 NBA Playoffs as the No. 5 seed but had surged during the final stretch of the regular season to become much more dangerous than their standing suggested.
After exacting some revenge on the Clippers in the first round and downing the No. 1 seed Thunder in the conference semifinals, the Mavericks appeared to hit their peak form against the Timberwolves to close out the series quickly. They now await the Boston Celtics in the Finals, the team with the best record during the regular season. However, that means nothing to Dallas given the way it is playing right now.
The outlook wasn’t always this rosy for the Mavericks. They took a lot of criticism for intentionally missing the playoffs last year despite trading for Kyrie Irving at the deadline, largely to protect their first-round draft pick. That turned out to be the first of many correct decisions the Mavericks made over the last year to get to this point.
Dallas re-signed Irving in the summer despite the hesitation from critics, which has largely played out well for both parties. The partnership with Irving and Luka Doncic has been phenomenal, and there has been little to no chatter about Irving’s off-court behavior. He’s stayed out of the spotlight and he’s now back in the Finals.
The first-round pick Dallas worked hard to protect turned into Dereck Lively, a 7-footer who could give the team some power it lacked in the interior. The Mavericks also added Grant Williams and Seth Curry in an effort to take some of scoring burden off the two star point guards. It seemed like they were ready to give the Doncic-Irving partnership a serious run.
At the start of the season, things largely stayed the same. The Mavericks were 30-23 at the trade deadline thanks to a four-game winning streak (which would eventually be a six-game streak) but something still felt off. Irving had missed some time with injuries but remained a positive offensive force. Doncic was in the MVP race. The Mavericks were seventh in offensive rating and scoring 118.8 points per game. And yet, the team was 22nd in defensive rating and 15th in net rating, with the latter ranking placing Dallas alongside the young Magic and revamped Rockets. Something had to change.
Credit the Mavericks taking immediate action and not allowing another year of Doncic’s MVP-level play go to waste. Dallas shipped out Williams, who was having a down year offensively, for P.J. Washington and added Daniel Gafford in another deal. At the time, these were seen by many as largely inconsequential moves. After all, it wasn’t like Washington and Gafford were going to provide scoring relief. However, the defensive impact was far more important and has ultimately put this team in the Finals.
There was obviously going to be an adjustment period with the newcomers, who were being put into roles they weren’t exactly accustomed to with their previous teams. Washington, a combo wing with the Hornets, was largely tasked with becoming a top perimeter defender. Gafford, the starting center for the Wizards, was recast as a high-energy big man who would be highly efficient but lightly used. This shift also influenced the likes of Lively and Derrick Jones Jr., players who were better defensive contributors than scorers. Even Doncic and Irving started to lean into being better defenders, although they were still primarily tasked with putting up points.
The Mavericks went 7-6 during the next month but the underlying impact was starting to come through. Dallas was fifth in offensive rating and 23rd in defensive rating during this stretch, but rose to ninth in net rating. The team was two points better per 100 possessions, which might seem like a small change but one that could swing a playoff series in a tight Western Conference. And then the explosion happened.
In the next 13 games of the season, the Mavericks went 12-1. We’re taking out the last two games since Dallas’ seeding was already determined and it didn’t play its usual guys, who had earned some much-needed rest. The Mavericks with eighth in offensive rating and first in defensive rating in this stretch, leading to the team being first in net rating. Dallas was 0.6 points per 100 possessions better than the Celtics in this span, the team it will face in the Finals. Boston had been an advanced stats juggernaut all season but the Mavericks have reached a similar level late in the season.
More importantly, Dallas’ offensive approach remained the same. The team was still tasking Doncic and Irving with the majority of the scoring workload, which was happening anyway regardless of who the peripheral players were. Doncic and Irving accounted for 50.3% of Dallas’ points per game until the trade deadline. They were at 49.9% over the next month before settling in at 49.7% during those 13 games where the Mavericks were the best team in the league. That scoring clip has continued in the playoffs but the importance here is to recognize how important the right role players are in any system.
Dallas could’ve let things stand where they were and counted on some positive regression from players who were typically solid scorers but the Mavericks chose instead to lean into their defense. That made them a championship-caliber team and put them in the Finals for the first time since 2011.