The Dallas Mavericks got past a major hurdle with an upset over the top-seeded Phoenix Suns in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs. They now face another test: a best-of-seven series against the third-seeded Golden State Warriors (53-29) with a trip to the NBA Finals at stake.
Dallas (52-30) will begin the Western Conference Finals at 8 p.m. CT Wednesday in San Francisco. The teams will play every other day, with each game being broadcast by TNT.
The Mavericks and Warriors last met in the playoffs during the first round of 2007, when eight-seed Golden State shocked the top-seeded 67-win Mavericks with a six-game series win.
Before that, the Warriors had not won a playoff series since 1991 and had made the postseason just two times since. However, their franchise history is now full of championships, with Golden State winning it all in 2015, 2017, and 2018.
The same trio that made up the core of their championship teams remains, with All-Star guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson and forward Draymond Green. They also have the same head coach in Steve Kerr, known for being a calming presence on the sidelines and drawing up creative offenses.
The Mavericks are taking the role of the 2007 Warriors in this series. Entering this year’s playoffs, they had not won a playoff series since 2011, losing six consecutive times in the first round.
They were not expected by many to get past the Utah Jazz in the first round after their superstar Luka Doncic went down with an injury in the regular-season finale. The injury forced him to miss the first three games of the series, but the Mavericks prevailed, winning in six games behind the emergence of Jalen Brunson, who averaged nearly 28 points a game.
Fewer people expected Dallas to get past the title-contending 64-win Suns in round two, but the Mavericks walloped the top-seed in Game 7 on the road.
Against Golden State, the Mavericks will again be the underdogs, with BetMGM giving the Warriors -250 odds to advance to the NBA Finals.
Dallas had the advantage in the regular season, going 3-1 against Golden State. The Mavericks had wins of 99-82 on January 5 in Dallas, 107-101 on February 27 in San Francisco, and 122-113 on March 3 in Dallas. Their loss came by a 130-92 score on January 25 in San Francisco.
However, several critical components are different for each team. Golden State was without Thompson or Green for the first three games and without both for the final game. Dallas has not faced all of the Warriors’ All-Star trio since 2019, before Thompson suffered an ACL and Achilles injury that kept him out for the entire 2020 season.
The one constant for Golden State was Curry, who played in each meeting, averaging 20 points on 38.8% shooting and 29.4% from three — 5.5 points, 4.9%, and 8.6% lower than his full-season averages, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks still had Kristaps Porzingis on the team for the lone loss to the Warriors. Porzingis was dealt to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Davis Bertans and Spencer Dinwiddie on February 10. Dinwiddie scored 30 points in Dallas’ closeout win over the Suns.
Dallas will need continued scoring boosts from someone other than Doncic to get past the experienced Warriors squad. Brunson has shown he can consistently provide that boost, but he also struggled early in the series against Phoenix.
Aside from the trio of All-Stars that comprised their championship-winning teams, the Warriors also have Andrew Wiggins, who was named an All-Star for the first time this year, and a rising star in Jordan Poole, both ascending amid the team dealing with injuries throughout the year.
Golden State started the season 18-2, looking like a title contender with Thompson set to return from his injury in January. However, when he returned, Green suffered a back injury, and once he returned, Curry sprained his left foot. Wiggins and Poole kept the team afloat, doing just enough to keep the third seed in the playoffs.
Curry returned for the first round against the Denver Nuggets, and the Warriors quickly dispatched them in five games. They struggled more against the two-seed Memphis Grizzlies, but an injury to Memphis’ All-Star Ja Morant removed any severe threat to the savvy Golden State team, who advanced past the Grizzlies in six games.
Dallas will need to continue its solid defensive team efforts under first-year head coach Jason Kidd, who has Dorian Finney-Smith, Reggie Bullock, and Maxi Kleber as the foundation of his top-10 defensive unit.
Meanwhile, Golden State has several options they will likely throw at Doncic defensively. Green is a former Defensive Player of the Year, but his strength is protecting the rim against opposing big men. Thompson was known as a lockdown defender before his injuries, but the Warriors may be hesitant to leave him on Doncic for extended periods at this stage in his career.
The most likely option to be the primary defender on Doncic will be the first-time All-Star Wiggins. At 6’7”, the Warrior has the length to challenge Doncic, but if Phoenix’s Mikal Bridges was no match for the Maverick, Wiggins might be in for the same fate.
Golden State will need a team effort defensively to slow Doncic, who leads all players among the four teams remaining in scoring (31.5 points) and rebounding (10.1) this postseason while being tied for the lead in assists (6.6) with Green.
One thing for certain in this series is that the Mavericks can be confident that the most versatile player on the court will be on their team.