What A Relief: Mavs Face Suns In West Semifinals With Burden Lifted
Finally, after 11 long years, the Dallas Mavericks have won a playoff series after finishing off the Utah Jazz in six games Thursday night. The Mavs still have their sights set on higher goals than just a first-round win, but make no mistake, there is a huge sense of relief rippling through the franchise right now.
Although there have been some exciting postseason moments for Dallas since the previous series win — Vince Carter’s buzzer-beater over the San Antonio Spurs in 2014 and Luka Doncic’s otherworldly play against the Los Angeles Clippers over the last two years come to mind — those series all ended with the same way. The Mavs were kicked into the offseason.
Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images
Alex Goodlett/Getty Images
Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images
While that mental hurdle has been conquered and the league-leading Phoenix Suns are a much better team than Utah, the Mavs now have more confidence than ever and don't face nearly the same amount of pressure in the Western Conference semifinals. Not many experts, if any, will pick the Mavs to beat the Suns. They're officially the underdogs, and they like it that way.
During the regular-season series with the Suns, the Mavs went 0-3 despite every game being competitive and decided by single digits. Doncic didn't play in the first two games in November due to an ankle injury. The Mavs possessed a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter of the one game he did play against the Suns in January before Phoenix took over down the stretch.
This is a much different Dallas team now than what the Suns played against in the regular season, though. Kristaps Porzingis, still with the Mavs during those three matchups, and was victimized by Chris Paul off switches in the clutch. Although the Suns were the best clutch team overall, the Mavs were the best clutch team in the league after trading Porzingis for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans.
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Tom Pennington/Getty Images
USA Today Sports
Not only did the Mavs end an 11-year playoff drought against Utah, but they also exorcised their Salt Lake City demons. Before winning Game 3, the Mavs hadn't won in Utah since 2016. And yet they managed to do that twice in the last week.
A similar challenge awaits the Mavs in the second round, as they haven't beaten the Suns since Nov. 29, 2019. Phoenix has won nine games in a row over Dallas, and CP3 always seems to have the Mavs' number – not just with the Suns. Paul has a career 32-20 record vs Dallas.
No matter what the outcome of this Mavs-Suns series is, bank on Dallas not going without a fight. The Suns might be favored, but the Mavs are riding a high on confidence right now and will use lineups Phoenix has yet to face.
Will that be enough to pull off an upset against a team that won 64 games? We're itching to find out, with Game 1 on Monday night in Phoenix.
