Two Mavs Lessons To Learn From Nuggets Over Clippers
DALLAS - The Dallas Mavericks entered the NBA bubble with a healthy respect for both the Los Angeles Clippers and the Denver Nuggets, and a believe - maybe fueled by youth or maybe fueled by the do-the-impossible presence of Luka Doncic - that those two foes were beatable.
Dallas never got to prove that against Denver. And Dallas never quite proved it in the Round 1 loss to L.A. But the Nuggets proved something in Round 2, in an upset of the cocky Clippers that was delivered despite a 3-1 deficit leading up to Tuesday's 104-089 loss.
And I believe in watching it unfold, the Mavs learned a couple of lessons.
One, Dallas was right to believe in itself, even as huge underdogs to a Clippers team we all touted as certainly the NBA's deepest and maybe the NBA's best. I chalked up the bold series-long "winning'' words of Luka to naivete - but maybe he was onto something. Maybe the Clippers were vulnerable. Maybe, had Kristaps Porzingis not gone down, Dallas would've proven what Denver later did.
The Clippers are beatable. And if that's true, that means most anybody is.
“All the guys committed, never got down, believed in each other and believed in themselves,'' said Nuggets coach Michael Malone, whose team opens the conference Finals against the Lakers on Friday. “All the guys committed, never got down, believed in each other and believed in themselves. In light of all the noise outside of this series that we had no chance — we had people guaranteeing it — we found a way to beat a really good team.”
Two, a franchise turnaround can happen quickly. The Nuggets' map to success is not unlike the one the Mavs are following. Consider:
-The Nuggets just re-entered the playoff picture in the 2018-29 season.
-Before that, they hadn't been in the postseason since 2013-14.
-Their all-time championship pedigree is a bit ... thin.
-Their roster does not boast veteran superstars.
-Their roster does boast a dynamic duo of budding stars.
Jamal Murray is 23. Nikola Jokic is 25.
Luka Doncic is 21. Kristaps Porzingis is 25.
The Nuggets entered the bubble without being able to say they "have a Kawhi Leonard and a Paul George.'' But now they advance to the Western Conference Finals ... and depending on what happens next, they may be able say exactly that.
The Mavs entered the bubble in the exact same way - readying for their first playoff appearance in half a decade, fans hoping Doncic would "arrive'' and that KP would do the same ... and fans wondering "how much time'' it'll take for Dallas to become a legit contender.
What did Jokic say after the Nuggets became the first-ever team to overcome 3-1 deficits in two straight series?
“We are just not accepting that somebody’s better than us,” is what Jokic said after stuffing the Clippers with 16 points, 13 assists and 22 rebounds, tag-teaming with Murray and his 40 points.
What did Luka say after the Mavs had tied the series with the Clippers 1-1?
“We’ve just got three left,'' is what Doncic said. “I think we can fight with them. Any series we go in, we’re going to believe we can win, for sure. If you don’t believe it, you’re not supposed to be here. You’ve got to believe it.
It took the Nuggets two seasons to make this leap. It can take the Mavs two seasons, too.
For Denver to do so, it took some luck (Murray was a seventh overall pick, Jokic a 41st) and some moves and some belief.
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For Dallas to do so, it'll take some luck (the KP injury was the opposite of that), some moves (we believe owner Mark Cuban when he tells us "I'm a buyer'') and some belief.
And thanks to the presence of Luka Doncic, Dallas already possesses the last one.
